Accredited Innovation Education Program (AInEP)®

Overview

An Accredited Innovation Education Program (AInEP)® is a comprehensive multi-course / multi-module education program that – as a whole – has been fully verified and subsequently accredited by the Accreditation Center of Global Innovation Institute.

This includes such programs as undergraduate degree programs, graduate degree programs (both masters and doctorate levels), graduate-level certificate programs, comprehensive multi-course executive education programs, and so on. These programs – whenever they focus on or touch on select facets of business innovation – are all eligible for consideration as an AInEP®.

There is significant value in universities, colleges, and other academic bodies having their Innovation and Innovation-related education programs accredited by GInI as an AInEP®.

AInEP® accreditation assures all affected stakeholders that the program has been thoroughly assessed by GInI and therefore its caliber and scope conform fully to GInI’s demanding accreditation standards. No other organization in the world prescribes this same level of accreditation standard in the field of business innovation as does GInI. Consequently, accreditation by the GInI Accreditation Center is the global standard for the accreditation of Innovation Education Programs.

Innovation Education Programs that have achieved accreditation with GInI will bear GInI’s AInEP badge – GInI’s seal of assurance that the program is of a high caliber and is being delivered with excellence.

This offers significant value, because Accredited Innovation Education Programs attract a substantially larger and higher-caliber student body than do non-accredited programs, resulting in significant economic value to the organizations delivering these programs

GInI remains fully committed to pursuing excellence and continuous improvement in all activities relating to the GInI Accreditation Center and the GInI Accreditation Program. The AInEP Guidebook.

provided on this page sets forth the policies, procedures, and standards used to assess the quality and scope of individual Innovation Education Programs, and to thereafter accredit them to GInI’s standards.

Organizations wishing to pursue accreditation of their Innovation Education Programs with GInI must submit to GInI the AInEP Application with full supporting evidence. GInI will thereafter undertake a formal assessment of the program, including in most cases a formal Site Visit of the program, with tours, interviews of faculty and staff, interviews of present and past students, scrutiny of the curriculum, and more – and will then make its determination of the program’s accreditation worthiness.

Innovation Education Program accreditation is valid for a period of two years, at which point the program must submit to an abbreviated reassessment process. Programs must also submit an Annual Report to GInI each year to ensure their ongoing compliance.

What Organizations Should Apply?

Any education body – whether academic, professional, or otherwise – who delivers a high-caliber, well-designed, well-developed, and well-delivered innovation education program with appropriate and useful learning objectives – together with proper governance and supervision of that program – is eligible for having their program accredited by GInI, and may therefore apply to the GInI Accreditation Center for AInEP® accreditation.

If an education body offers multiple such education programs, each independent of the other, then it must secure accreditation for each such program separately and independently. Accreditation of any one of its programs would not infer accreditation of any of its other programs.

Benefits

AInEP® accreditation affirms a program’s ongoing commitment to educational quality and continuous improvement in the field of Innovation.

AInEP® accreditation creates peer recognition for the program’s achievement to a globally-recognized benchmark standard.

AInEP® accreditation differentiates a program as being one of a select group of educational programs that properly reflect and teach the modern philosophies and disciplines of Applied Business Innovation.

AInEP® accreditation allows a program to recruit and retain a larger and higher caliber body of students.

Obtaining

GInI Accreditation Eligibility Requirements

For an Innovation Education Program to qualify for accreditation by GInI, it must fully demonstrate compliance to GInI’s strict eligibility requirements.

The following are GInI’s Accreditation Eligibility Requirements for an Innovation Education Program.

Applicant Legal Status

The applicant organization has to be a properly-registered legal entity having articles of incorporation or an equivalent form of charter indicating that it is legally recognized by a government body to conduct operations in that body’s jurisdiction.

Applicant Resources

The applicant organization must also possess the necessary resources, facilities, and administrative support required to effectively deliver and supervise the program under application.

Program Design

The program under application must be established to have each of the following:

1. A properly-defined charter or mission – including a properly-defined series of program learning objectives.
2. A properly-defined set of program admission requirements.
3. A properly-defined structure and format – including its general content, delivery modalities, and duration.
4. A properly-defined program curriculum.
5. A properly-defined set of program completion requirements.
6. A properly-defined series of quality standards specifying the quality of the program’s delivery and outcomes.
7. A properly-defined series of continuous improvement goals and methods specifying when, where, and how the program is to be further maintained, improved, and/or upgraded over time.

Program Delivery

The program under application must be able to demonstrate each of the following:

1. A selection of appropriately qualified faculty who routinely deliver the program.
2. One or more staff members assigned to supervising and overseeing the program, so as to ensure its conformance to its stated quality standards and continuous improvement goals.

Program Support

The program under application must be able to demonstrate each of the following:

1. The use of appropriate resources to support the program – including the use of appropriate physical facilities or virtual infrastructure needed to deliver the program as it is defined.
2. Appropriate means by which to support students beyond formal class time, such as faculty office hours, special review sessions, tutors, application labs, study groups, online resources, and so on.

Program Outcomes

The program under application must be able to demonstrate each of the following:

1. A history of successful delivery of the program – including the successful completion of the program by sequential cohorts of students.
2. A history of the successful placement and/or advancement of the students completing the program as a consequence of their applying what the program has taught them.

The Accreditation Process

The GInI Accreditation Center’s process for accrediting innovation education programs consists of the following steps ( these are the technical steps; for the commercial steps, refer to the AInEP Guidebook ):

Maintaining

Accreditation Duration

Accreditation by GInI of an Innovation Education Program is valid for a period of two (2) years, at which point the program must renew its accreditation if it intends to maintain it and carry it forward for another two years.

This biennial renewal process involves undertaking an abbreviated reassessment of the program to ensure it continues meeting GInI’s accreditation eligibility requirements.

The Accreditation Maintenance Process

To maintain its status as an AInEP, a presently-accredited innovation education program must undertake the following steps on a regular basis.

1. Each year: Submit an Annual Report to the GInI Accreditation Center indicating the performance and outcomes of the program over the year concluding. This is to be submitted annually on the anniversary of the program’s accreditation.
2. Every two years:
1. Submit to a reassessment of the program and the organization by the GInI Accreditation Center. (Unless dictated otherwise by GInI, this will be done remotely, requiring no Site Visit).
2. Pay the biennial Program Reaccreditation Fee.

The organization must ensure it completes both of these two steps prior to the expiration date of its program’s accreditation cycle. Otherwise that program’s accreditation will lapse and the program will cease to be accredited by GInI.

Investment

Fee Schedule – Initial Accreditation

Initial accreditation by GInI of an organization’s Innovation Education Program involves three fees.

The first fee is a one-time upfront Program Application Fee. This fee is 2,000 USD.

The second fee is the initial Program Assessment Fee. This fee includes two (2) parts.

• The first part is a fixed Content Assessment Fee. This fee is 3,000 USD.
• The second part is a variable Site Visit Fee. This fee covers the travel expenses of the Assessor traveling to the applicant’s site to undertake the in-person Site Visit / On-Site Assessment. This fee will vary depending on where the organization is based and where the Assessor is traveling from.

The third fee is the initial Program Accreditation Fee – paid only if the program passes GInI’s assessment process. This fee is 5,000 USD.

Optional Certificate Issuance Fee

Additionally, the applicant organization can opt to have GInI issue official GInI-branded (or co-branded) Certificates of Completion for it – should it so choose.

If it opts to have GInI do this for it, the fee for doing so – known as the Program Certificate Issuance Fee – is 100 USD per certificate / graduate. This fee is fixed regardless of the scope, nature, or duration of the program.

Fee Schedule – Reaccreditation

All AInEPs must pursue reaccreditation every two years, prior to their accreditation’s expiration date.

There is one fee involved in doing this – the Program Reaccreditation Fee. That fee is 5,000 USD.

Payment of this fee initiates the reassessment process needed for maintaining accreditation.

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