The accrediatiation procedure consists of the following stages:

I.    Submission of application by educational organization; 

II.    Self-evaluation (internal evaluation) of educational organization;

III.    Visitation of experts to conduct an external evaluation;

IV.    Decision-making on accreditation/non-accreditation;

V.    The following procedures: post accreditation monitoring.

• The institution submits a written application for institutional and specialized accreditation to the Director of the Independent Agency for Accreditation and Rating of Kazakhstan (IAAR). The application shall be accompanied by a copy of state license and supplements to the license that ensure right of educational activity conduction. During specialized accreditation educational organization additionally presents a copy of the certificate about conduction of institutional accreditation.

• The IAAR Director takes the decision to start the procedure of institutional/specialized accreditation. The IAAR signs a contract with the educational organization on conduction of institutional/specialized accreditation of the higher education institutions.

• The IAAR organizes training of domestic experts of the university on the special seminars on theory, method and technology of institutional and specialized accreditation.

• The institution carries out a self-study process according to the IAAR requirements and submits a self-study report to the IAAR.

• Director of the IAAR forms an expert commission to carry out an audit of the educational organization. The expert commission consists of 7 (8) experts, comprising the representatives of the Kazakh academic community, employers, the representatives of students and an international expert.

• Upon examination of a self-study report the IAAR takes decision on continuation of accrediting procedure and running of the on-site visit or on necessity to re-elaborate the self-study report or decision on noncompliance of the program with criteria and failure to receive accreditation.

• In case the decision on continuation of accrediting procedure is taken, the chair of the IAAR and the expert commission and the institution agree on the dates of accreditation and schedule of the commission work plan.

• An on-site visit of the commission takes not less than 3-5 days. At the end of the visit the external expert commission prepares a detailed report on assessment of the educational organization, which serves as the basis for the decision on the accreditation of the university by the Accreditation Council.

• The decision of the Accreditation Council is to be approved by the IAAR Board of Directors and the IAAR sends a certificate on the institutional and specialized accreditation signed by the Director of the IAAR to the educational institution, which is valid for five years.