ANSI Issues First Set of Accreditations Under New Program for Education and Training Certificates

WASHINGTON, Feb. 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American National Standards Institute (ANSI), a private non-profit organization that administers and coordinates the U.S. voluntary standardization and conformity assessment system, is pleased to announce the five certificate-issuing organizations that have been accredited under the Institute's pilot Certificate Accreditation Program (ANSI-CAP).

These organizations and their scopes of accreditation include:

• U.S. Army Combat Readiness/Safety Center: CP 12 Safety Professional Certificate
• U.S. Food and Drug Administration: New Hire Investigator Training Program
• National Association of State Boating Law Administrators (NASBLA): Boating Under the Influence Detection and Enforcement Certificate
• SCIPP International: End-User Security Awareness (EUSA) Certificate, Secure Web Application Development Awareness (SWADA) Certificate
• Sullivan University: Network Support and Administration Certificate

"ANSI congratulates the bodies that achieved accreditation under the first round of this new initiative," said Lane Hallenbeck, ANSI vice president of accreditation services. "ANSI-CAP is the first program of its kind to offer a formal, third-party process for review and recognition of quality certificate programs. This effort marks a significant step forward in improving the quality of the American workforce, and we are very proud to add value to the process through third-party accreditation, helping to assure integrity and consistency within the credentialing field."

Launched in 2009 to accredit organizations that issue education and training certificates to U.S. workers, ANSI-CAP provides neutral, third-party accreditation that a given certificate program meets ASTM E2659-09, Standard Practice for Certificate Programs, an American National Standard developed by ASTM International.

By demonstrating compliance to this standard, accredited certificate programs will further the development of a well-educated and qualified workforce, one of the chief goals outlined by President Obama in his recent State of the Union address. The accreditation program is also expected to provide quality benchmarks for the design of future certificate programs. With these evaluations and benchmarks in place, workers and employers will be better able to determine the value and meaning of training and educational certificates.

ANSI-CAP follows the accreditation process outlined in the international standard ISO/IEC 17011, General Requirements for Accreditation Bodies Accrediting Conformity Assessment Bodies. This process includes using specially trained assessors to review documents submitted by applicants against defined requirements, conduct on-site assessments, and make recommendations to the ANSI-CAP Accreditation Committee that is responsible for making the accreditation decisions.

Beginning on March 1, 2010, ANSI-CAP will be open for participation from all interested certificate-issuing organizations. Subsequent accreditation decisions will be made by the ANSI-CAP Accreditation Committee and announced on a quarterly basis.

Questions about ANSI-CAP can be directed to Turan Ayvaz, program manager, Certificate Accreditation Program ([email protected]; 202.331.3635).

Both standards that guide the ANSI Certificate Accreditation Program -- ASTM E2659-09 and ISO/IEC 17011 -- are available for purchase on the ANSI eStandards Store at webstore.ansi.org.

About ANSI

The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is a private non-profit organization whose mission is to enhance U.S. global competitiveness and the American quality of life by promoting, facilitating, and safeguarding the integrity of the voluntary standardization and conformity assessment system. Its membership is comprised of businesses, professional societies and trade associations, standards developers, government agencies, and consumer and labor organizations. The Institute represents the diverse interests of more than 125,000 companies and organizations and 3.5 million professionals worldwide.  

The Institute is the official U.S. representative to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and, via the U.S. National Committee, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), and is a U.S. representative to the International Accreditation Forum (IAF).

SOURCE American National Standards Institute