Institute for Community-oriented Further Education

Institut für gemeindeorientierte Weiterbildung

Basic information

National External Quality Assurance Requirements

  • Programme accreditation
    voluntary, except for medical and health professions according to public health regulations
  • Institutional accreditation
    Institutional accreditation according to Swiss law, with a decision by the Swiss Accreditation Council, is mandatory for all public higher education institutions of the tertiary sector and for private higher education institutions using a protected denomination (“University”, “University of Applied Sciences”, “ University of Teacher Education“). Successful accreditation has no legal impact beyond the right to use one of the protected denominations but is a testimony to a quality assurance systems covering all processes and suited to support the higher education institution to achieve its goals.
  • Further information on external quality assurance in Switzerland

External Quality Assurance Reports and Decisions

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Provider level

Decision: positive
Institutional and programme accreditation
  • DEQAR Report ID
    103641
  • Agency
    European Council for Theological Education e.V. (ECTE)
  • Type
    • Institutional and programme accreditation
  • Status
    voluntary
  • Formal decision
    positive
  • Date
    14/05/2024
  • Valid until
    13/11/2028
  • Summary
  • Notes
    The Institut für Gemeindeorientierte Weiterbildung (IGW) in Zurich, Switzerland, is an Alternative/Other Provider of higher theological education. The review concerns the provider and three programmes delivered by distance and online education, comparable to an EQF level 6 (First Cycle) programme (of 180 ECTS credits), an EQF level 7 (Second Cycle) programme (of 84 ECTS credits) and an EQF level 7 (Second Cycle) programme (of 60 ECTS credits). The programmes are in line with the relevant ​frameworks of higher education: the EQF (European Qualifications Framework) and QF-EHEA ​(Qualifications Framework for the European Higher Education Area).​​ The First Cycle programme is also offered in Germany under the nomenclature Studium Praktische Theologie in respect of German regulations.
  • Report and decision
  • Permalink
    https://data.deqar.eu/report/103641
  • External link
    View record on agency’s website
  • Verifiable Credential

Learning opportunity/credential level

Decision: positive
Bachelor of Arts in Praktischer Theologe (CH) / Studium Praktische Theologie (DE) (first cycle other provision, 180 ECTS)
  • Qualification/award
  • Level
    first cycle (NQF 6)
  • Programme type
    Other provision
  • Workload (in ECTS credits)
    180
  • Assessment and certification
    Assessment based certificate
  • Learning outcomes
    (information not provided)
  • Field of study
    religion and theology
  • DEQAR Report ID
    103641
  • Agency
    European Council for Theological Education e.V. (ECTE)
  • Type
    • Institutional and programme accreditation
  • Status
    voluntary
  • Formal decision
    positive
  • Date
    14/05/2024
  • Valid until
    13/11/2028
  • Summary
  • Notes
    The Institut für Gemeindeorientierte Weiterbildung (IGW) in Zurich, Switzerland, is an Alternative/Other Provider of higher theological education. The review concerns the provider and three programmes delivered by distance and online education, comparable to an EQF level 6 (First Cycle) programme (of 180 ECTS credits), an EQF level 7 (Second Cycle) programme (of 84 ECTS credits) and an EQF level 7 (Second Cycle) programme (of 60 ECTS credits). The programmes are in line with the relevant ​frameworks of higher education: the EQF (European Qualifications Framework) and QF-EHEA ​(Qualifications Framework for the European Higher Education Area).​​ The First Cycle programme is also offered in Germany under the nomenclature Studium Praktische Theologie in respect of German regulations.
  • Report and decision
  • Permalink
    https://data.deqar.eu/report/103641
  • External link
    View record on agency’s website
  • Verifiable Credential
Decision: positive
Master of Advanced Studies in Missionalem Gemeindebau (second cycle other provision, 84 ECTS)
  • Qualification/award
  • Level
    second cycle (NQF 7)
  • Programme type
    Other provision
  • Workload (in ECTS credits)
    84
  • Assessment and certification
    Assessment based certificate
  • Learning outcomes
    (information not provided)
  • Field of study
    religion and theology
  • DEQAR Report ID
    103641
  • Agency
    European Council for Theological Education e.V. (ECTE)
  • Type
    • Institutional and programme accreditation
  • Status
    voluntary
  • Formal decision
    positive
  • Date
    14/05/2024
  • Valid until
    13/11/2028
  • Summary
  • Notes
    The Institut für Gemeindeorientierte Weiterbildung (IGW) in Zurich, Switzerland, is an Alternative/Other Provider of higher theological education. The review concerns the provider and three programmes delivered by distance and online education, comparable to an EQF level 6 (First Cycle) programme (of 180 ECTS credits), an EQF level 7 (Second Cycle) programme (of 84 ECTS credits) and an EQF level 7 (Second Cycle) programme (of 60 ECTS credits). The programmes are in line with the relevant ​frameworks of higher education: the EQF (European Qualifications Framework) and QF-EHEA ​(Qualifications Framework for the European Higher Education Area).​​ The First Cycle programme is also offered in Germany under the nomenclature Studium Praktische Theologie in respect of German regulations.
  • Report and decision
  • Permalink
    https://data.deqar.eu/report/103641
  • External link
    View record on agency’s website
  • Verifiable Credential
Decision: positive
Master of Advanced Studies in Theologie (second cycle other provision, 60 ECTS)
  • Qualification/award
  • Level
    second cycle (NQF 7)
  • Programme type
    Other provision
  • Workload (in ECTS credits)
    60
  • Assessment and certification
    Assessment based certificate
  • Learning outcomes
    (information not provided)
  • Field of study
    religion and theology
  • DEQAR Report ID
    103641
  • Agency
    European Council for Theological Education e.V. (ECTE)
  • Type
    • Institutional and programme accreditation
  • Status
    voluntary
  • Formal decision
    positive
  • Date
    14/05/2024
  • Valid until
    13/11/2028
  • Summary
  • Notes
    The Institut für Gemeindeorientierte Weiterbildung (IGW) in Zurich, Switzerland, is an Alternative/Other Provider of higher theological education. The review concerns the provider and three programmes delivered by distance and online education, comparable to an EQF level 6 (First Cycle) programme (of 180 ECTS credits), an EQF level 7 (Second Cycle) programme (of 84 ECTS credits) and an EQF level 7 (Second Cycle) programme (of 60 ECTS credits). The programmes are in line with the relevant ​frameworks of higher education: the EQF (European Qualifications Framework) and QF-EHEA ​(Qualifications Framework for the European Higher Education Area).​​ The First Cycle programme is also offered in Germany under the nomenclature Studium Praktische Theologie in respect of German regulations.
  • Report and decision
  • Permalink
    https://data.deqar.eu/report/103641
  • External link
    View record on agency’s website
  • Verifiable Credential

Verifiable Credentials

A Verifiable Credential (VC) is a digitally-signed and thus tamper-evident document containing information on a subject (e.g. personal information, entitlements of an individual, degrees held by an individual or accreditation of a higher education institution). Quality assurance results recorded in DEQAR can be downloaded as W3C-compatible Verifiable Credentials.

Currently, two types of credentials can be issued:

EBSI Verifiable Accreditations (VA) can be used by a higher education institution in the context of the EBSI Early Adopters programme.

  • The VA allows the institution to prove its external quality assurance on the Trusted Issuer Registry (TIR). EBSI VAs are only issued for external quality assurance results with an official status in a national system (“part of obligatory EQA system”).
  • At present, the higher education institution’s EBSI DID needs to be communicated to EQAR and recorded in DEQAR manually at the moment. If you are a higher education institution participating in EBSI, please contact us to register your DID.
  • EBSI VAs are issued by EQAR under its DID did:ebsi:zk4bhCepWSYp9RhZkRPiwUL.

DEQAR Format Verifiable Credentials primarily serve as a proof of concept and public demonstrator currently.

  • DEQAR Format VCs are based on the plain W3C Recommendation and our own data model. While they closely follow the EBSI Schema, no EBSI-specific or EU-specific elements or data types are used.
  • The higher education institution is identified by its DEQAR URI in this case.
  • DEQAR Format VCs are issued by EQAR under its DID did:web:data.deqar.eu.

Please note: this is an experimental feature.