About the Education Industry

The education industry provides knowledge on various subjects in primary and secondary schools. Education also includes college, university and higher education institutions that teach specific skill sets tailored to a particular field. This industry has seen many changes over the last decade, from new laws about education standards to technology developments in the classroom.

Some trends in the education field that will change industry practices include, but are not limited to:

• Migration from in-person to online classrooms
• Increased prevalence of low-cost and free digital textbooks
• Introduction of augmented reality and virtual reality technologies in the classroom

A well-managed school system helps students thrive and be successful. Since educational facilities are training the workforce for other sectors, the education industry is crucial in domestic and global economies. This importance makes education industry standards essential for schools to become competitive in the field.

Challenges in the Education Industry

The education industry faces many challenges stemming from environmental and financial factors. These factors are identified as problems at various levels, from students to lawmakers. These parties place increasing demands on the education system, requiring schools to have efficient resource management. Since education is becoming an economic sector, school systems are expected to perform at high levels and offer quality services.

Some challenges in the education industry include:

• Contributing to the health and safety of students, faculty and staff: Since health and academic performance are connected, school systems need to be a healthy and safe environment for those working and learning there. Providing adequate opportunities for exercise and healthy foods in educational facilities is a challenge due to a lack of funding for these programs and available time within school hours.
• Fostering a sustainable and resilient organization: Many industries are expected to have environmentally friendly practices, including education. Sustainability is challenging to implement in school systems due to having no structure, funds or policies for eco-friendly initiatives.
• Providing cutting-edge facilities: Educational facilities are encouraged to adopt technology in the classroom and the administrative back-end to set themselves apart and improve efficiency. Technology implementation must be carefully completed — a lack of training on or understanding of the technology results in wasted time and funds, limited potential of the technology’s success and sensitive data made vulnerable.

Education systems must change their methods for operation and management to meet these standards. Improving the educational environment helps students be successful academically and personally.

Education Industry Standards Supported by NQA

The most common ISO certifications for the education industry include:

• ISO 9001: ISO 9001 is a quality management systems standard that helps organizations have meaningful management structures and meet or exceed quality control metrics. Education systems benefit from this standard because it improves student and faculty satisfaction, operational processes and efficiency and helps you meet your overall goals. The framework is flexible so each education system can adapt it to its methods and processes.
• ISO 14001: ISO 14001 is the standard for environmental management systems. It gives requirements for organizations to follow when creating and maintaining their environmental management systems. For education systems, ISO 14001 helps you manage your environmental impact, including resource management, pollution prevention and culture change. ISO 14001 certification shows you care about your environmental performance and are actively managing it.
• ISO 50001: ISO 50001 is an energy management standard that helps organizations improve their energy efficiency. Education systems should get ISO 50001 certification to manage their energy consumption and related costs. It can help schools meet regulatory and legislative requirements, reduce their operating costs and carbon footprint and improve their resource management. Getting certified for ISO 14001 first makes ISO 50001 certification easier to achieve.
• ISO 45001: ISO 45001 is an international standard for occupational safety and health. Its requirements help organizations avoid factors that can cause harm, which protects people from accidents and diseases. Education systems with ISO 45001 certification foster a healthy and safe environment for students and staff. By reducing the chances of injury or illness, you help students and staff avoid absences.
• ISO 27001: ISO 27001 improves the integrity, availability and confidentiality of information security management systems. Education systems can protect sensitive data, such as the personal information of students and staff, from cyberattacks, data breaches, damage and theft. You can avoid threats and security incidents while maintaining compliance. As a result, students and staff can be confident their data is secure, and your reputation will improve. ISO 27001 does not cover General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
• PAS 2060: PAS 2060 verifies that organizations are implementing practices for carbon neutrality and helps them achieve carbon neutrality. It is the only internationally recognized standard for carbon neutrality. Education systems follow four stages — measurement, reduction, offsetting and documentation — before becoming verified. PAS 2060 increases the transparency of environmental policies, improves your institution’s reputation for environmental consciousness and helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
• EcoCampus: The EcoCampus scheme is a flexible, phased approach for creating and implementing environmental management systems in higher education. At each stage of the process, your educational facility can receive various awards conforming to the ISO 14001 standard.

Benefits of Education ISO Certification

Education is a new sector for ISO certification. An increasing number of school districts and universities in the United States, United Kingdom and elsewhere are pursuing certification to these standards. Adapting ISO standards for education helps you manage the challenges this industry faces. Standards compliance can give educational facilities many benefits:

• Make your structures more efficient: ISO standards for education improve the day-to-day workflow in educational facilities by implementing new or additional processes. Staff can spend less time on administrative operations and more time on valuable work, such as teaching students.
• Effectively use financial resources: Implementing a quality management system in your school, such as ISO 9001, demonstrates to taxpayers that you manage your funds well.
• Improve educational value: Being certified to ISO standards for education allows you to improve your educational initiatives and prepare students for successful post-graduate studies and careers.
• Establish quality controls: Educational facilities can implement quality management systems and mechanisms tailored to the industry.
• Implement sustainable practices: Standards for environmental management systems, such as ISO 14001, will help your educational facility improve its green initiatives.
• Stand out in the market: For higher education institutions, ISO certification can help your university stand out from the competition. It affirms that your school has excellent education programs and outcomes for students.
• Enhance data security: Establish protections and measures to keep confidential information secure with ISO certifications for information security management systems. You can reduce your educational facility’s likelihood of a security breach and make students and staff feel confident that their information is secure.

Why Work with NQA for Education Certification?

NQA provides inspection and certification services for the education industry. Our education clients include widely respected universities such as Worcester University, Oxford Brookes and Nottingham Trent University. We also support many other industries globally and have issued over 50,000 certificates in 90 countries.

We are a certification body that helps you achieve compliance with ISO standards for education and improvements in your processes. Our certification audits help improve your educational facility and meet the standard requirements. This approach is a practical and supportive way to meet the demands of certification.

NQA offers:

• Comprehensive services: We have many certification services available globally. When your school system is certified to ISO certifications for the education industry, you will work more efficiently.
• Practical and updated technical guidance: NQA helps you understand ISO educational standards and their requirements, plus how to get certified. Our team is up to date on the latest standard developments and will help your educational facility adjust to these new changes.
• Improvement opportunities: NQA assesses your compliance with education industry standards and identifies ways you can improve.
• Value for the cost: Our services are available at a competitive price with no hidden fees. Our rates give you access to top-notch technical support for education industry standards and certifications.
• Multiple learning methods: NQA allows your educational facility to learn new technical skills using a method that works best for you. We offer in-house, classroom and online courses.

Get Started Today

Certification to education industry standards is vital for any school system that wants to improve its education quality. NQA performs auditing for ISO certifications for the education industry to help you adhere to these industry standards. As a result, you can make positive changes and improvements to become more successful in sustainability, security, management and other areas.

Get a quote for certification on our website to gain the benefits of education ISO certification today and choose the package that works best for you. You can also contact us with any questions you have.