The widest-reaching American accreditation: some forty thousand schools in over a hundred countries. It accredits both individual schools and whole school systems. It also sells a paid membership with no inspection behind it, and that membership is often passed off as accreditation.
What the badge means for this school. The school has been through this organisation's accreditation. It was judged as a whole: governance, safeguarding, staff, premises, teaching. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →EQuest Education Group is a Vietnamese education group which calls the organisations within it member institutions. The site gives no formal separation into ownership, management and franchise, but the milestones section describes purchases outright: Alpha School, Newton Grammar School, Victory Experimental School, Victory Sai Gon High School, St. Nicholas School Da Nang, Hanoi Star Education System, Happy School, American Polytechnic College, Saigon Polytechnic College, Phu Xuan University and Viet My Hanoi College have been acquired. The year of foundation is 2003, at first as the consulting company EQuest Academy; in November 2019 the holding company was renamed to its present name. There are three blocks: school education, colleges and universities, and educational technology. The numbers on the site differ and we give them all: the section about the group speaks of 25 institutions as of 2025, the home page shows 16 member brands, the school section speaks of 14 institutions with Cognia accreditation, and the description of the Vietnamese home page keeps the figure of 35 sites as of July 2020. Pupils and students: some 20,000 in the schools, 10,000 in the colleges and universities and more than 180,000 on digital programmes. The geography: Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Hai Phong, Hai Duong, Hue, Ba Ria-Vung Tau. The investors named are KKR, Vietnam Oman Investment and TAEL Partners: TAEL came in in October 2016, KKR in June 2021 and again in May 2023.
What this means for this school. The network owns or operates the school. Its accreditation and programme authorisation the school obtains separately, in its own name.