The Impact of International Accreditation on Universities’ Brand Image: A Brand Management Approach

International accreditation provides universities with a sustainable competitive advantage by highlighting positive perceptions of critical features such as reliability, transparency, and quality. Today, many universities are making great efforts and investments to be accredited on a departmental basis by a recognized international accreditation organization. On this account, day by day, the high perceived quality in higher education institutions has begun to be directly associated with international accreditation. This study aims to reveal the effects of international accreditation on the perceived brand image of universities from a brand management perspective. In this context, issues such as known and recognized international accreditations in higher education, accreditation criteria, brand image, theoretical models related to brand image and factors forming the brand image, stakeholders affected by accreditation, and image interaction are evaluated from a brand management perspective. Accreditation processes and their effects around the world have been examined, a theoretical model has been built that reveals criteria, titles, and/or themes that can be associated with the image, and international accreditation and quality perspectives in higher education have been associated with the brand image.