ISO-certified learning services from educational institutions:
They promise customers a high level of quality in seminar offerings in a large market of educational services. But what exactly do the certificates mean, what is checked during the audit process, and how can customers benefit from this? In this blog post, we take a look at the world of standards for education providers, the certification process, and report on our own experiences in the recently completed audit process with TÜV NORD.
1. DIN ISO 29993 – Significance for education providers, benefits for learners
Lifelong learning is important for both companies and employees. Anyone who wants to survive in a rapidly changing global labor and trade market must be able to respond flexibly to change and new requirements. To do this, they need to keep their knowledge up to date and rely on high-quality educational offerings. When selecting educational offerings, an international standard such as DIN ISO 29993 helps by guaranteeing all parties involved a consistently high quality of education. However, many providers shy away from the immense effort involved in obtaining DIN ISO 29993 certification. In particular, an excellently functioning management system is a basic requirement.
DIN ISO 29993 is the result of a technical committee established in 2016 to standardize education and learning services. This specific standard emerged from DIN ISO 29990. The focus of this committee, which consists of representatives from over 40 member countries, is on management systems, the trainers or instructors themselves, the assessment of learning, and also the ethical behavior of each provider. The latter refers primarily to the treatment of learners.
Figure 1: Transition from DIN ISO 29990 to DIN ISO 29993
2. DIN ISO 29993 – what is being tested?
ISO 29993 is a standard that defines and ensures requirements for the design, planning, implementation, and follow-up of educational offerings. The audit therefore focuses on analyzing the needs of learners, the learning concepts, and the processes involved in educational services:
What skills does the provider have, and what expertise and experience do the instructors who teach the learning content have?
Do the educational service provider’s concepts address the educational needs of its customers?
What guidelines and standards are used to develop learning concepts?
Are there binding and documented processes?
Does the provider ensure an efficient process from the initial inquiry to the follow-up of a learning service?
How does the education provider ensure the consistently high quality of its offerings in the future?
The working environment is also examined:
What resources are available to the provider to ensure the consistent quality of its educational offerings?
What management systems are used to ensure a consistent quality process across all phases?
DIN ISO 29993 is thus linked to the well-known DIN ISO 9001, which ensures consistent quality in management systems, but goes much further by specifically addressing the professional delivery of educational services.
3. Certification process
If a provider decides to certify its learning offerings, it must first review its own organization for compliance with the requirements of the ISO standard. It must identify weaknesses and then eliminate them. Then the search for a suitable certifier begins. In Germany, these include well-known testing institutes such as TÜV and DEKRA. Once an offer has been accepted, concrete scheduling takes place. The education service provider submits all necessary documents by the test date. This allows the tester or auditor to gain an initial overview before the audit. The actual audit then takes place at the business premises and usually lasts one to three days.
The audit is conducted in the form of a technical discussion. The auditor and applicant discuss all points in the certification catalog together. The auditor checks the implementation based on the education provider’s live systems. During the process, the auditor evaluates individual results and derives characteristics that may influence the success of the certification.
For example, potential for improvement (VP) may be an optimization of the existing system, but it does not play a role in conformity within the scope of certification. The provider of educational services can decide for itself whether it wants to adapt its processes. However, a recognized significant nonconformity (NC A) does not allow certification. The education provider is then obliged to make improvements in accordance with the ISO standard and can then obtain certification once the auditor has successfully approved the rectification of the non-conformities. Once certification has been obtained, all successfully audited educational offerings may be advertised as certified. Recertification is then required every 12 months.
Figure 2: Certification process flow
4. amendos experience report
Amendos GmbH submitted its “amendos Academy” portfolio for DIN ISO 29993 certification to TÜV Nord in the first quarter of 2023. Following the audit in May, official confirmation of certification followed in June. The intensive technical discussion led by the auditor closely followed a very comprehensive list of questions derived from the ISO standard. This was also available to us as an aid in preparing for the audit and, in particular, in the phase of optimizing our own organization. As a result, there were no surprises for us during the audit, and we were able to deal with the individual points with confidence.
The entire process requires a very intensive and serious examination of one’s own approaches and systems in the run-up to the audit. As a company undergoing audit, it is advisable to allow sufficient time for reviewing and adjusting the content relevant to the audit. It was particularly helpful for us that we were able to follow the ISO standard’s questionnaire very closely. Only after completing the essential adjustments did we then register for the audit process. It was advantageous that the amendos employees who worked on the certification project accompanied the audit themselves and were thus able to answer the auditor’s questions competently. An important lesson for us was that their precise knowledge of the standard requirements and their implementation at amendos was an essential prerequisite for successful certification.
Conclusion
Certification according to DIN ISO 29993 is a comprehensive process in which both the management systems and all relevant documents relating to the educational offerings and the instructors themselves are reviewed. For successful certification, an educational provider must prepare intensively and review and consistently implement the necessary adjustments in its organization. We, amendos GmbH, have successfully implemented this with our academy offerings.
This is a major advantage for potential customers of a certified academy: Certification brings greater transparency by ensuring a consistently high level of quality in the processes of the amendos academy, but also greater reliability in the quality of the educational services. Customers therefore do not have to rely solely on references from other participants as parameters in their decision to choose an educational offering. Nevertheless, the following applies to customer reviews: even though customer reviews have become a familiar part of everyday life, e.g., on Amazon, very few providers still work with systems such as star ratings or testimonials.
Authors: Marleen Schenk and Jörg Bujotzek
