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The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept, criteria and definitions of quality of higher education from the perspectives of the leadership of three new independent accreditation agencies in Kyrgyzstan.

The author employed interpretative qualitative research design. The data for this study were collected through semi-structured interviews with the leadership of three independent accreditation agencies and through review and the qualitative analyses of new policies on accreditation of higher education institutions, new accreditation standards and criteria. A priori codes by using categories were defined in advance and emergent codes based on data driven were used for data analyses.

The research findings support the author’s argument that the new independent accreditation processes will not assure quality because first, the agencies are not independent of the Ministry of Education and Science; second, the current standards do not provide evidence of quality; and third, the institutions do not have what in Europe is called a “quality culture” – ongoing, continuous efforts toward quality.

This is first scholarly work looking at independent accreditation process at its beginning stage. The results of an article can have influence on further development of accreditation system and improvement of accreditation standards.