BAS Frequently Asked Questions

Accreditation is awarded on the basis of an accreditation visit, the purpose of which is to verify that the EAP provision is being carried out in accordance with your principles, as evaluated by the criteria.

Prior to an accreditation visit you are required to provide details of your EAP provision, explaining how each COURSE submitted for accreditation is contextualised, constructively aligned and collaborative within its context (see Appendix 6.2 for information we request).

The BAS costs comprise an annual fee, guidance visit fees and expenses (if applicable),assessor fees for the accreditation visit, and visit-related assessor expenses (e.g., accommodation, travel and subsistence if the visit is carried out in person).

The annual fee is included in the institutional membership fee as is reviewed annually. 

See pg7-8 of the handbook for details of other fees and expenses.

Any COURSE which is designed to provide students, teachers and/or researchers with the academic literacy and study competence required to enable them to succeed in higher education or research through the medium of English is eligible for accreditation by BAS.

If your provision is BAS-accredited you will normally be required to undergo a full re-accreditation visit every four years.

An accreditation visit will be arranged only if BAS has received a completed accreditation application, with sections A-E, F1 and F2 of the Accreditation Context document, at least three months before the proposed date of the visit.

Key teaching, management and support staff for all assessed COURSES will need to be available at the time of the accreditation visit to meet the assessors.

Where there are more than two COURSES to assess, or if COURSES take place at different times of year, more than one visit may be required.

A face-to-face accreditation visit usually takes two full days (from midday on Day 1 to midday on Day 3). However, online accreditation visits may require some meetings or observations to be scheduled outside this time frame. This can be negotiated in advance between you and the assessors but the ‘visit’ will not be extended any longer than a week, unless there are exceptional circumstances which make this necessary

The final outcome will be communicated to you by the BAS Administrator within 7 weeks of the final date of the visit, unless the report raises something that would benefit from consideration by a larger set of assessors, usually at the May or October BAS Committee meetings.

The final outcome will be in one of the following categories:
• Accreditation
• Provisional accreditation for one year only with guidance for remedial action (for new applicants)
• Referral of the decision for one year with guidance for remedial action (for already accredited providers)
• Failure to achieve accreditation.

We recommend you start as early as possible.  However, the formal process starts 6 months before the visit.

See pg14-15 of the handbook for more details.