ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of university accreditation in the countries of Latin America, where higher education is facing the basic problem of improving and assuring academic quality. Latin American universities emerged at the turn of the sixteenth century. Latin American countries are bent upon an intense process of social development and economic growth—with marked openness towards the rest of the world. The accreditation model in Latin America is based on the system of voluntary self-regulation developed by the various university associations in the United States and modified to suit the diverse realities of the region. In 1991, Centro Interuniverseritario de Desarrollo, based in Chile organized a seminar on 'Accreditation in Latin American and Caribbean Universities'. In South America, Brazil, Colombia and Chile have accreditation systems with wide coverage operating on a regular basis, although differing in characteristics and modalities. The notion of accreditation of higher education in Latin America is becoming accepted as a systematic, organized and public process.
