Education and Training Evaluation Commission

The Education and Training Evaluation Commission is the main authority responsible for setting the criteria for accrediting education and training programs in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, developing and preparing measurement tests, and setting standards for education curricula.

The commission was founded, under its current name, in 2016. It is an extension of the General Education Evaluation Commission. The commission is a legal entity with administrative and financial autonomy and has an organizational structure comprising several centers, committees, and departments that regulate its work.

The commission's headquarters is located in the capital Riyadh. It reports to the Prime Minister and has a Board of Directors.

The commission is trusted with preparing and designing criteria for measuring educational outcomes in the Kingdom, designing and supervising placement tests of all forms and fields, presenting them at the designated locations, and carrying out school assessments and the curricula and institutional accreditation of schools, universities, and training bodies. In addition, the commission provides consultancy to government and private entities in the area of training programs.

The commission assumes many roles, most notably accrediting educational certificates and institutions, publishing scientific research in its field of competence, developing the standards of educational curricula in the Kingdom, offering professional licenses and training courses for education and training staff, as well as conducting tests.

Five centers are affiliated with the commission: the National Center for School Evaluation and Excellence (NCSEE), the National Center for Evaluation and Academic Accreditation (NCAAA), the National Center for Training Evaluation and Accreditation (Masar), the National Center for Performance Measurement (Qiyas), and the National Center for Military Accreditation (Derea).

Most of the commission's services are provided by the affiliated centers. Qiyas, for instance, specializes in the preparation and presentation of measurement tests of all kinds, such as linguistic measurement and measurement of general capabilities, while the NCAEA is responsible for classifying universities, accrediting their curricula, and offering institutional accreditation. The NCSEE sets the criteria for the accreditation of local and international schools in the Kingdom, evaluates school curricula, and measures public students' performance according to specific indicators such as the admission index.

The centers also include Masar, the center in charge of accrediting training programs offered by vocational education institutes and establishments and setting their standards. The commission is responsible for the development of military training programs through the National Center for Military Accreditation (Derea), tasked with assessing and accrediting military training and education establishments and programs, conducting scientific research and studies, and offering consultancy and training within its field of specialization.

Those interested in obtaining professional evaluation certificates can apply for paid training courses at the commission. Upon the completion of these courses, they are granted certificates of specialization in several fields, such as the Academic Quality Practitioner Certificate, School Evaluation Specialist Certificate, Training Quality Practitioner Certificate, and Academic Accreditation Reviewer Certificate.