Abstract

This paper analyzes certain South American educational systems from the perspective of accreditation while identifying common and unusual elements, strengths, and opportunities for improvement; this to glimpse good in the formulation of public policy, in the performance of practices, in the implementation of educational schemes, among others. The researchers carried out a documentary analysis of the most important education laws of Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, and Peru; in addition, they not only distinguished aspects of interest in the existing regulations, but also generated comparative tables between the models and the nations. Through this, it is possible to recognize the complexity of the systems, as they reflect the educational public policy in each country. Likewise, these are expressed from the educational imaginaries of each context, which represents a challenge from the perspective of integration of the models, guidelines, or accreditation systems that coexist in the region. The foregoing leads to the main conclusion that today it is complex to think of a unified accreditation system that satisfies all the interests of the countries and institutions involved, given its heterogeneity, so the authors recommend to start building and consolidating a regional culture that understands that the accreditation and other processes associated with educational quality should be seen more from a holistic and systemic point of view than specifically.

Keywords Educational Systems; Educational Quality; Higher Education; Accreditation; South America