Accreditation of Conservatories and Higher Institutes of Arts as higher education institutions (Democratization of access to high quality artistic, cultural and heritage education — Organic Law of Culture: Art. 16, paragraph g)

Art. 352 of the 2008 Constitution provides that the Higher Education System shall be composed of universities and polytechnic schools; technical, technological and teaching institutes; and duly accredited and evaluated higher music and arts conservatories. Such institutions, whether public or private, shall not be profit-oriented.

The Organic Law of Higher Education (LOES, in Spanish), issued in 2010, defines the following as higher education institutions: (a) Public and private universities and polytechnic schools, duly evaluated and accredited in accordance with this Law; (b) Public and private higher technical, technological, teaching and arts institutes, duly assessed and accredited, in accordance with this Law; and (c) Public and private higher conservatories, duly evaluated and accredited, in accordance with this Law.

In compliance with the Regulations of the 2019 Organic Law of Higher Education (LOES), Conservatories began the process of ascription or articulation to universities, complying with the provisions of the Regulations of Higher Institutes and Conservatories, Art. 51 and 52, and the Organic Law of Culture, which establishes in Art. 14, the Comprehensive Regime for Education and Training in Arts Culture and Heritage (RIEFACP, in Spanish). The RIEFACP comprises the mainstreaming, articulated and correlated set of standards, policies, instruments, processes, institutions, organizations and individuals involved in formal and non-formal education in the arts, culture and heritage.

To achieve the accreditation of Conservatories and Higher Institutes, the endorsement of the RIEFACP is necessary as stated in Art. 53, paragraph 4 of the LOES Regulation: "Being a constituent institution of the Comprehensive Regime of Education and Training in Arts, Culture and Heritage, with the certification of the corresponding body of the Ministry of Culture and Heritage."