PROFESSIONAL PUBLIC ACCREDITATION OF EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS IN THE EDUCATION QUALITY ASSESSMENT SYSTEM

This article aims to examine professional public accreditation of educational programs as a means of ensuring that higher education remains relevant to the current socio-economic public needs in the context of shifting requirements of the labour market, digitalization of most areas of life, and new challenges in technical and technological development. The study actualizes new approaches that can be used in assessing the quality of educational programs implemented in the field of environmental management, energy, and environmental protection. A systems approach views professional public accreditation of educational programs as a set of measures. They aim to ensure the compliance of educational programs with the requirements of professional standards and employers’ expectations. An institutional approach enabled to identify the subjective characteristics of the examined phenomenon. We also used methods of problem analysis, comparative analysis, data collection, and statistical processing. The result of the study is the established need to develop professional public accreditation of educational programs in the system of independent assessment of education quality, which would make it possible to estimate the significant characteristics of an educational program and to determine whether its implementation in a specific timespan is necessary. This study can contribute to the development of the specific practices of professional public accreditation of educational programs, including in the field of rational and sustainable use of natural resources, and it can facilitate the development of the legal, theoretical, and organizational foundations of this type of public activity.