Hi Hashim,
I would say the distinctive features in the U.S. is that the process is non-governmental, peer review; it is a system of self-regulation wherein the colleges and universities themselves set the standards and agree to follow them. The federal government says some of the areas for which there need to be standards (for example, faculty, and curriculum), but it doesn't say what the standards should be.

Barbara

Hi Gulshat,
In New England, there are generally about 7-9 members of a team that visit a college or university; in some parts of the U.S., the team is a bit bigger. Here we choose them through nomination; someone who knows them says they should be considered as an evaluator, and then we select a team that will be "peers" for the college or university being visited -- they are from similar kinds of universities. We provide a workshop to train them. The visit lasts from the middle of a Sunday through the middle of a Wednesday, though there is considerable preparation before the visit.

Barbara

Hi Nurlygul,
Accreditation traces its roots to 1885, here in New England when a group of university presidents got together to consider which high schools prepared students for college. They were careful about which colleges joined that conversation, so from the earliest days, there was a selection process. Accreditation as we know it today developed slowly but has been in a form recognizable today since around 1950. That give us 6 decades to refine the current system!
Because accrediting agencies are independent and not part of government, they can each decide if they want to accredit in other countries. NEASC accredits a small number of American-style institutions in other countries.

Barbara