The International Commission on Accreditation of Public Administration Education and Training Programs (ICAPA) is the quality assurance body of the International Association of Schools and Institutes of Administration (IASIA), an internal association of IIAS. Its accreditation criteria are based on the newly finalized Standards of Excellence for Public Administration Education and Training, developed through a two-year review (2022-2024) led by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) and IASIA. This extensive global effort involved over 1,200 expert contributions from public administration scholars, training institutes, practitioners, and United Nations representatives, as well as seventeen global and regional workshops and an online survey in five languages (Arabic, English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish).
The Standards of Excellence establish benchmarks for high-quality education and training in public administration, guiding academic institutions, faculty, trainers, and practitioners in their pursuit of excellence. By applying these standards, public administration programs will cultivate dynamic, tech-savvy, agile, and globally aware professionals equipped to navigate complex governance challenges and contribute to sustainable development.
As the only truly international accrediting body in public administration education, ICAPA ensures global recognition of accredited programs while supporting capacity-building efforts worldwide. Its governance structure includes an Accreditation Commission (AC), a Steering Committee (SC), and a Secretariat to oversee the accreditation process and uphold these newly refined global standards.
Accreditation of a program in Public Administration indicates that the program meets the standards set by the accreditation committee. Accreditation by ICAPA grants a Public Administration program international recognition and signifies its commitment to excellence. The acronym ICAPA stands for the International Commission on the Accreditation of Public Administration and Training Programs. ICAPA accreditation is based on eight criteria established by the United Nations in collaboration with the International Association of Schools and Institutes of Administration (IASIA).
As of 2025, the accreditation process has been renewed. The standards for accreditation have been updated; the procedure has become more flexible; and diversity is now integrated into the process, with ICAPA acknowledging that standards of excellence can be achieved in various ways, depending on the specific context in which a program operates. Additionally, the requirements for the Self Evaluation Report, which must be prepared by the program, have been adapted to simplify this part of the process.
ICAPA offers particular flexibility regarding the types of programs it accredits—from training programs to PhD studies—and operates in a truly international environment. This means that programs seeking accreditation become affiliated with a diverse, global network of public administration educators. The accreditation process is guided by ICAPA's own specialized standards, ensuring that different needs are met in diverse ways, while supporting the overarching goal of advancing public administration. These standards align with the recently approved Standards of Excellence for Public Administration Education and Training, developed by the United Nations in collaboration with IASIA and numerous other international bodies.
The accreditation process provides programs with a valuable opportunity to reflect on their current quality and to generate ideas for improving processes and curricula in pursuit of excellence—both during and after initial accreditation. ICAPA’s peer evaluators are well-positioned to offer recommendations that enhance the quality of education and training programs.
ICAPA provides services to public administration education and training programs throughout the world. For programs in a developmental stage ICAPA can, at the request of the program, provide expert consultancies to advise on the development and building of an outstanding public administration education or training program. For more established, but not yet fully developed, public administration education and training programs, ICAPA will upon request undertake a review which can result in the “rostering” of the program as one that has demonstrated a high level of quality even if its activities are relatively limited in scope. For more fully developed programs, ICAPA can provide full international accreditation based on the conformance of the program with the UN/IASIA Standards of Excellence for Public Administration Education and Training Programs. ICAPA accredits programs at all levels, Bachelors, Masters, Ph.D. and also training programs.
Frequently, the pressures of routine activities are so great as to limit the ability of even the most fully developed programs in the field to pause and assess the effectiveness and relevance of what they are doing. The ICAPA review process requires a program under review to systematically assess what it is doing and why it is doing what it is doing and how effective and relevant are its activities. In order to facilitate this self-assessment, the ICAPA process includes all the relevant stakeholders of a program (students, faculty, administrators, alumni and representatives from relevant governmental and public administration agencies).
ICAPA is composed of three governance bodies. The Steering Committee (SC) sets the overall policy of ICAPA, oversees the Secretariat, and endorses the decisions made by the Accreditation Commission (AC), which bases its conclusions on reports from the Site Visit Team. The Accreditation Commission determines accreditation criteria, appoints Site Visit Teams, and makes final decisions regarding program accreditation. The Secretariat manages relations with programs seeking accreditation and supports the SC and AC in marketing and operational management.
ICAPA has delivered accreditation to the following programs:
ICAPA provides accreditation services to education and training programs in public administration, public management, public governance, public policy, and public affairs programs. These programs can be supplied by Universities, Management Institutes, Schools of administrations, Schools of government, Training centers at national, regional or local levels, at professional level Vocational and Technical Education, Bachelor, Master or PhD levels.
Interested programs are invited to manifest their interest to the ICAPA Secretariat by filling in a form. Information will be provided, eligibility checked, and membership to IASIA established if desired to get a discounted price for the accreditation services. After settlement of an accreditation service invoice, the program will be added to the annual plan of ICAPA, and a site visit team appointed by the AC, taking into account the opinion of the program to be accredited.
Programs fill in a Self-Evaluation form, which is a reflection on current progress towards achieving the standards, supported by evidence. When the site visit team is satisfied with the Self-Evaluation form, a site visit will be organized. During the site visit, additional evidence is collected. The Site Visit team will file an accreditation report to the AC, which will decide on accreditation. The decision will be endorsed by the SC. Unless ICAPA decides otherwise, accreditation is generally valid for a period of six years.
The ICAPA accreditation fees are:
The institution of the program will support the costs related to the site visit, including flights in economy, accommodation, and catering.
CONTACT: ICAPA@IIAS-IISA.ORG