Academic Partnerships and Accreditation

Three students sat on a bench underneath a tree on green grass, outside Heriot-Watt's Scottish Borders Campus building.

Heriot-Watt University works with a range of academic, professional, and regulatory organisations in support of its global educational mission. Through carefully governed academic partnerships, exchange arrangements, and external recognition activities, the University extends learning opportunities, supports student mobility and progression, and ensures programmes continue to meet relevant academic, professional, and regulatory requirements.

Partnership Arrangements

Academic partnerships and pathways involve working with other providers of education to deliver educational programmes or courses leading to Heriot-Watt University awards and/or academic credit. These arrangements include Approved Learning Partners, Joint Collaborative Partners, Articulation Pathways, and Research Partnerships.

As approved by the University Executive, Heriot-Watt University does not currently enter into Validation Agreements.

The University has established clearly defined processes for the approval, management, and review of academic partnerships and related agreements. These processes ensure that partnerships are appropriately considered, approved, monitored, and reviewed in line with the University's academic governance arrangements.

Accreditation and External Recognition

Heriot-Watt University engages with international and professional accreditation bodies to support the recognition, quality assurance, and continuous enhancement of its programmes. Accreditation activity provides external assurance that programmes meet relevant academic, professional, and regulatory standards and supports the University's commitment to maintaining high standards across its global educational provision.

Ensuring Quality Across Partnerships

The University maintains primary responsibility for the academic standards and quality of all Heriot-Watt awards. Partnership and accreditation activity is supported and overseen through the University's academic governance and quality assurance arrangements, with relevant teams working collaboratively to manage relationships, approvals, monitoring, and ongoing engagement with external organisations.