A private non-government quality assurance & rating agency like SMCRAC works on the premises of regulations that it follows and have them implemented in its member organizations and institutions. These regulations govern the course of accreditation through maintenance of set standards in methodology and process of member organizations & institutions as well as they establish the integrity of SMCRAC Global for the authenticity of its accreditation. These regulations are maintained all throughout the cycle of accreditation right from receiving the application to the time till SMCRAC accreditation stays with the member body.

Regulations for the Quality Assurance Standards:

The regulations for SMCRAC accredited membership are a set of rules to guide through the accreditation process, while meeting the SMCRAC compliances. Accreditation is a set process which requires the applicant organizations / institutions to have certain licenses obtained and some registration done in order to run the business safely in respective countries, which is the basic to have SMCRAC accredited membership. Having cleared that, SMCRAC checks through its process if the organization / institution comply with SMCRAC set quality standards and to what degree. SMCRAC policy & regulation is divided into Pre Accreditation Procedures and Post Accreditation Policies:

Pre Accreditation Procedure:

The organization / institution needs to undergo a procedure that determines its eligibility to see if it qualifies to be granted SMCRAC accredited membership or not. The steps from application to final accreditation certificate are listed down for the convenience of the applicants.

Eligibility: The basic eligibility for any organization / institution to obtain SMCRAC accredited membership is to have proper authorization from the local governing bodies to run the said business or teach & confer course certificates to declare the set standards of quality in the goods / services. Company / institute should be registered with proper government authorities with basic licenses obtained as a regular business entity. It could be a government or a private organization / institute, providing maintaining the international standards.

Application: The assessment of applying organization / institution starts from the application process itself. A self assessment system has been incorporated by SMCRAC separate for accreditation in education or Better Business Practices in any other industry in the form of an application form that requires the assessing organization / institution to fill up with required details pertaining to set standards. The organization / institution fills out the information in the self assessment form, complying the set standards in education or / and in other industry verticals along with the documentary proves of it doing so. In case of some standards not applicable, the onus is on the organization / institution to clarify the reason and also to ascertain as to how it will compensate for the absence of it. The self-assessment report i.e. the application form and supporting documents should be presented in English language only. Denial or unjustified delay to provide proper evidence or explanatory reports will stop the assessment process. The SMCRAC guarantees the confidentiality of any documents and data submitted by the organization / institution, as well as any information pertaining to the accreditation process.

Modes to Apply: There are various ways that an organization / institution may apply for SMCRAC Accreditation:

• Fulfilling the Set Criteria: Any establishment seeking accreditation by SMCRAC Global Accredited Membership should demonstrate through the application or self-assessment report that it meets SMCRAC’s set standards. Non-compliance may be considered if proper reasoning is provided through documentary proves. It takes about a month for the accreditation process to complete after the self assessment report has been properly submitted with required documents to SMCRAC.
• SMCRAC Choiced Members: The members of a set of accreditation agencies or bodies whose accreditation is considered at par or similar with SMCRAC have been given an automatic entry for accreditation by SMCRAC, based on the prior consideration. In case, the organization / institution loses its membership with the SMCRAC Choiced body, it may have to go through the same rigorous reaccreditation process of SMCRAC.

Assessment: The complete application with required documents by an applying organization / institution is assigned to an evaluation team comprising of its officials and board members for initial screening. The submitted facts are established for their authenticity and checked for compliance with the set regulation standards of SMCRAC. The assessment report thus prepared is distributed to the members who have a week to revert on approval or disapproval and grades of the initial accreditation report. An interview or a physical audit to establish facts may be necessary in some cases. The president can review the ultimate accreditation report and endorse the ensuing standing considering the following:

• Respect for Institutional Autonomy: Although having a set international regulation standards,  SMCRAC respects the academic establishment’s autonomy, meaning that it can have its own internal systems and methodology of delivering education and maintaining standards which may differ from SMCRAC standards but SMCRAC approves those standards if they comply with specifications that are established as international standards. However, these methodologies should be clearly explained whenever completely different from SMCRAC’s standards. The accreditation methods may vary significantly relying upon explicit circumstances. Even so, the SMCRAC has embarked on standards that any sensible quality establishment ought to meet.
• Navigational Assistance: SMCRAC accreditation not only endorses the organization / institution’s quality standards but also helps in improving its approach towards excellence. The business consulting approach of SMCRAC makes it very clear that the organization / institution can identify areas where it needs guidance & assistance to improve processes and regulations. The Commission makes a transparent distinction between what’s needed for accreditation and what’s suggested for improvement of the establishment.
• Cost-Efficient Method: SMCRAC doesn’t want to burden the organization / institute with unnecessary procedural hiccups and to incur needless expenses in obtaining accreditation. That’s why the simple yet efficient methods are employed to carry out the entire accreditation procedure which is as economical as its cost-efficient by minimizing the utilization of interviews, website visits & reports, and by eliminating, whenever potential, duplication of effort between the SMCRAC Global Accredited Membership and other review processes.

Accreditation Ratings and Final Report: Upon successful assessment, a close final accreditation report is prepared for the applicant organization / institution with Quality Star Ratings that define the level of compliance that the organization / institute has maintained with the SMCRAC standards. The organizations / institutes that don’t score outstanding are not debarred from obtaining accreditation; however lower the ratings, more improvement is required by the establishment to reach the desired level. The analysis of every commonplace is hierarchal per the subsequent scale:

Based upon the star ratings, an organization / institution qualifies to either Full or Conditional Accreditation. Moreover, the organization / institution is denied the accreditation if it fails to qualify. The status or accreditation standing is given as under:

Full Accreditation : On score A and A+

Conditional Accreditation : On score B & B+

Denial of accreditation : On score C

All the accreditations are valid for one year and renewal is required by the end of each year. The failed establishments may apply again after 3 months with improved processes and a better score. The application fee is non-refundable for debarred establishments. And a new application fee is charged for the second attempt for accreditation. SMCRAC accreditation affects solely to the licensed establishment and it’s not transferable to any connected third parties. If an licensed establishment interacts with a non-accredited third party, that interaction could embody a press release of participation of the SMCRAC licensed establishment, however it mustn’t indicate or counsel that the interaction itself, or the other parties concerned, at licensed.

Post Accreditation Policies:

Applicant Disagreement: SMCRAC Global Accredited Membership gives the final assessment results of its application to the organization / institute. The star ratings granted by SMCRAC Global are based upon the information provided by the applicant body in the application form which may or may not go down in agreement with the establishment. However it has 2 weeks’ time to appeal against it with the documentary proves stating otherwise. In failure to do so, the SMCRAC’s notices of results are going to be thought of absolutely accepted by the establishment and SMCRAC report of accreditation with rating granted will be considered final.

Reaccreditation: SMCRAC accreditation is valid for only one year, meaning that it needs to be reaccredited on yearly basis by submitting the proofs for established facts and showing improvements in previous year’s performance. For reaccreditation, the establishment should submit a complete application (SSR) to the SMCRAC Global’s Secretary. The establishment should report any changes of significance in its in operations and procedures to SMCRAC. These changes may cause a review of the accreditation method.

SMCRAC Value Addition: SMCRAC accreditation doesn’t limit to providing star ratings based on the closeness to compliance by the applicant organization / institute but to also suggest changes required to improve the performance and thus rating of its procedures and operations.  Of course, the institute has the right to implement those suggestions or not, however, those suggestions are observed by the most illustrious people of the industry who are on the board of SMCRAC and more often are for the benefit of the applicant organization/ institute.

Premature Termination of Accreditation: If the organization / institute no longer complies with the norms of SMCRAC global during the accreditation period, SMCRAC has a right to immediately terminate its accreditation on accounts of non-compliance. Even if the due fee remains unpaid for a stipulated period, SMCRAC may decide to terminate the accreditation status of the organization / institute.