ACISC Code of Ethics for Affiliated Consultants
ACISC Affiliated Consultants contribute professional expertise to educational institutions, leaders, students, families, and educational communities. That professional relationship carries responsibilities of integrity, competence, independence, confidentiality, accurate representation, and respect for institutional ownership.
The ACISC Code of Ethics establishes the professional principles and conduct expected of Affiliated Consultants when providing educational consulting, institutional development, accreditation preparation, student guidance, or other services within their areas of expertise.
Responsible consulting should strengthen institutional knowledge, capability, decision-making, and improvement while maintaining clear professional responsibilities throughout every engagement.
Principles of Responsible Professional Practice
ACISC Affiliated Consultants are expected to conduct professional engagements in accordance with principles that protect clients, institutions, students, professional relationships, and the integrity of educational decision-making.
Integrity
Act honestly, responsibly, and professionally, placing the legitimate interests of the client and the integrity of professional practice at the center of the engagement.
Impartiality
Provide advice and recommendations based on appropriate consideration of relevant facts, circumstances, professional knowledge, evidence, and reliable sources.
Professional Competence
Accept work within appropriate areas of expertise and maintain the professional knowledge and capability necessary to provide responsible services.
Independence
Maintain appropriate professional independence and distinguish consulting advice from formal institutional evaluation, accreditation review, and accreditation decision-making.
Confidentiality
Protect confidential information obtained through professional engagements and manage institutional, student, family, and professional information responsibly.
Accountability
Accept responsibility for the quality and professional integrity of consulting work and cooperate appropriately when questions or concerns about professional conduct arise.
Establish Clear Responsibilities Before Work Begins
A professional consulting relationship begins with a clear understanding between the consultant and client regarding the purpose, scope, responsibilities, deliverables, timeframe, information requirements, financial arrangements, and expected outcomes of the engagement.
These matters should be established appropriately before substantive work begins and should remain sufficiently clear throughout the engagement to protect both the client and consultant.
Where circumstances require a material change in the agreed service, the consultant and client should discuss and agree upon the change rather than allowing the engagement to develop without clear professional boundaries.
Define the Engagement
Purpose of the assignment
Scope and nature of services
Expected deliverables
Duration and timeframe
Allocation of responsibilities
Information and access requirements
Basis for professional remuneration
Ownership of consultancy outcomes
Evaluation of effectiveness
Reporting responsibilities
Standards Throughout the Consulting Assignment
Ethical responsibility continues throughout the complete professional relationship. Affiliated Consultants should maintain appropriate standards of conduct from initial engagement through delivery, review, completion, and any subsequent professional responsibilities.
Accurate Representation
Represent qualifications, experience, expertise, services, professional relationships, and ACISC affiliation accurately.
Client Interests
Maintain appropriate regard for the legitimate interests of the client, including relevant professional, educational, legal, and ethical considerations.
Quality of Work
Take professional responsibility for the quality, accuracy, relevance, and integrity of work undertaken within the consulting engagement.
Evidence-Based Advice
Ground recommendations in relevant information, professional knowledge, institutional context, and reliable evidence appropriate to the engagement.
Responsible Communication
Communicate recommendations, findings, limitations, responsibilities, and professional opinions accurately and constructively.
Respect
Work professionally with institutional leaders, educators, administrators, students, families, professionals, and other stakeholders across diverse educational and cultural environments.
Protect Information Entrusted Through Professional Work
Consultants may receive access to institutional documents, internal systems, strategic information, student-related information, professional records, operational data, or other information that is not intended for unrestricted disclosure.
Affiliated Consultants should maintain appropriate confidentiality and use information obtained through an engagement only for legitimate purposes connected with the professional assignment, subject to applicable agreements and requirements.
Research, publications, professional materials, and other external sources used in consulting work should also be acknowledged appropriately where attribution is required.
Responsible Information Practice
Protect confidential information
Respect institutional information
Protect student and family information
Use information for appropriate purposes
Maintain appropriate data practices
Respect intellectual property
Acknowledge research and external sources
Follow applicable confidentiality commitments
Professional Judgment Must Remain Credible
Consultants should identify relationships or interests that could reasonably affect—or appear to affect—the independence or objectivity of their professional judgment.
Relevant personal, professional, business, or financial interests should be disclosed appropriately where they may influence the engagement, recommendations, institutional choices, student guidance, or professional decisions.
A consultant should not present a personal or commercial interest as an educational, institutional, professional, or accreditation requirement.
Conflict Management
Identify relevant interests
Disclose potential conflicts
Protect professional judgment
Maintain appropriate independence
Avoid misleading recommendations
Separate commercial interests from professional requirements
Address conflicts before they undermine the engagement
Consulting Can Strengthen Preparation & Institutional Capacity
Consultants may support institutions preparing for ACISC international accreditation by helping leadership and institutional teams understand applicable expectations, organize evidence, examine systems, strengthen quality processes, facilitate preparation, and develop institutional capacity.
Effective consulting should help the institution understand and strengthen its own educational systems. Institutional leaders and teams should remain actively engaged in self-evaluation, evidence development, institutional decisions, representations, and improvement.
This approach strengthens institutional capability beyond a single accreditation activity and connects professional support with continuing educational quality and institutional development.
Appropriate Accreditation Support
Understanding standards
Institutional readiness
Self-evaluation preparation
Evidence organization
Quality-system development
Policy and process review
Institutional reflection
Professional development
Improvement planning
Internal capacity building
Protect the Integrity of Evaluation & Decision-Making
Professional consulting and formal accreditation responsibilities require clearly defined roles. Consultants provide advice, preparation, expertise, and institutional support. Formal evaluation, review, and accreditation decisions operate through the applicable ACISC accreditation structures and processes.
Maintaining appropriate separation between these responsibilities protects professional integrity and supports confidence in institutional evaluation.
Institution
Owns its institutional systems, evidence, self-evaluation, representations, decisions, and improvement responsibilities.
Consultant
Provides professional advice, expertise, preparation support, facilitation, or other agreed consulting services.
Evaluation
Examines the institution and applicable evidence through the formal accreditation evaluation process.
Review
Considers relevant evaluation findings, institutional information, and applicable accreditation requirements.
Decision
Establishes the formal accreditation position through the applicable ACISC decision-making structure.
Professional Support Should Build Capability
A consultant can help an institution examine evidence, organize accreditation preparation, improve documentation, develop systems, facilitate reflection, and identify opportunities for improvement.
The strongest consulting relationship does more than prepare documents. It strengthens the institution’s own ability to understand its educational environment, evaluate performance, manage quality, interpret evidence, make decisions, and sustain improvement.
Institutional ownership therefore remains central to responsible consulting practice.
Consulting Should Strengthen
Institutional knowledge
Leadership capability
Quality-management systems
Evidence literacy
Internal evaluation
Professional learning
Decision-making
Continuous improvement
Communicate the Consultant’s Role Accurately
Affiliated Consultants should accurately describe their professional expertise, services, relationship with ACISC, and role within any institutional engagement.
Consultants supporting accreditation preparation should not represent their advisory work as the formal accreditation evaluation or suggest that they independently determine an ACISC accreditation decision.
Professional credibility depends on clients understanding who provides advice, who owns institutional decisions, who conducts formal evaluation, and where accreditation decisions are made.
Accurate Professional Communication
Qualifications
Professional experience
Areas of expertise
Scope of services
ACISC affiliation
Consulting responsibilities
Institutional responsibilities
Accreditation process roles
Maintain Responsibility Across the Complete Assignment
Where additional professionals or subcontractors may contribute to an assignment, their participation should be managed responsibly and consistently with the agreed consulting relationship.
Consultants should obtain appropriate client agreement before subcontracting material elements of professional work and should maintain responsibility for the quality and integrity of services delivered within their engagement.
Professional collaboration should not reduce accountability, confidentiality, quality, or clarity regarding who is responsible for the work.
Responsible Collaboration
Client awareness
Appropriate permission
Defined responsibilities
Qualified professionals
Confidentiality protection
Quality control
Professional accountability
Ethical Practice in Educational Guidance
Consultants providing educational guidance or university counselling to students and families should place the learner’s educational interests at the center of the professional relationship.
Advice should be based on relevant educational objectives, student circumstances, reliable information, and the consultant’s professional expertise. Financial or institutional relationships that could influence recommendations should be addressed responsibly.
Students and families should receive sufficiently clear information to understand the nature of the service, the consultant’s role, applicable fees, relevant relationships, and the basis on which recommendations are provided.
Student-Centered Practice
Educational interests
Individual circumstances
Impartial guidance
Accurate information
Clear professional relationships
Responsible recommendations
Privacy & confidentiality
Safeguarding
Respond Professionally When Concerns Arise
Professional accountability includes responding appropriately to concerns about whether consulting services have been provided consistently with agreed responsibilities and applicable ethical expectations.
Affiliated Consultants should respond professionally to relevant client concerns and cooperate with applicable ACISC processes concerning compliance with this Code of Ethics.
Constructive accountability protects clients, consultants, institutions, students, families, and confidence in the professional community.
Professional Accountability
Listen to the concern
Review the relevant engagement
Consider applicable ethical principles
Respond professionally
Provide relevant information
Cooperate with applicable review processes
Take appropriate corrective action where required
Consultant Membership & Professional Practice
Explore the connected ACISC resources governing consultant participation, professional criteria, international education services, and accreditation-related responsibilities.
Affiliated Consultants
Explore the role of affiliated consultants and the professional services available across the ACISC educational community.
Benefits & Criteria
Review professional eligibility, membership expectations, consultant expertise, and participation within the ACISC community.
Consultants & Supporting Organizations
Explore professional participation and supporting relationships within ACISC’s wider international educational ecosystem.
International Accreditation
Understand the institutional accreditation framework consultants may encounter when supporting educational institutions.
Framework & Protocol
Explore the structure connecting institutional standards, evidence, evaluation, review, accreditation decisions, and continuing quality.
Policies & Accountability
Explore the wider governance principles supporting responsible professional participation and accreditation activities.
Professional Expertise With Ethical Responsibility
ACISC Affiliated Consultants are expected to combine professional expertise with integrity, appropriate independence, confidentiality, responsible communication, accountability, and respect for institutional and client ownership.
Through responsible professional practice, consultants can strengthen educational institutions, support students and families, contribute specialist knowledge, and build lasting institutional capability across diverse international educational environments.