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ACCREDITATION
Judith S.
Eaton
Council for Higher Education
Accreditation
Available
through the courtesy of James JF Forrest and Kevin Kinser, eds.
(forthcoming in 2000).
Higher Education in the United States: An
Encyclopedia.Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.
www.higher-ed.org/HEUS/
Accreditation is a
process of external quality review used by higher education to scrutinize
colleges, universities and higher education programs for quality assurance
and quality improvement. Accreditation in the United States is more than
100 years old, emerging from concerns to protect public health and safety
and to serve the public interest.
In the U.S., accreditation is
carried out by private nonprofit organizations designed for this specific
purpose. External quality review of higher education is a non-governmental
enterprise. In other countries, accreditation and quality assurance
activities are typically carried out by government.
The United
States accreditation structure is decentralized and complex, mirroring the
decentralization and complexity of American higher education. The higher
education enterprise is made up of approximately 6,500 accredited
degree-granting and non-degree-granting institutions. These institutions
may be public or private, two- or four-year, nonprofit or for-profit. They
spend approximately $230 billion per year, enroll more than 15 million
credit students and employ approximately 2.7 million full- and part-time
people.
Accreditors review colleges and universities in 50 states
and a number of other countries. They review many thousands of programs in
a range of professions and specialties including, law, medicine, business,
nursing, social work and pharmacy, arts and journalism.
There are three types of
accreditors:
- Regional
accreditors:
Accredit public and private, nonprofit and for-profit, two- and
four-year institutions. This is a comprehensive review of all
institutional functions.
- National
accreditors:
Accredit public and private, nonprofit and for-profit institutions,
frequently single-purpose institutions, including distance learning
colleges and universities, private career institutions and faith-based
colleges and universities.
- Specialized and professional
accreditors:
Accredit specific programs or schools including law schools, medical
schools, engineering schools and programs, and health profession
programs.
The
Purposes of Accreditation
Accreditation serves the
following purposes:
- Assuring quality. Accreditation is the primary means
by which colleges, universities and programs assure quality to students
and the public. Accredited status is a signal to students and the public
that an institution or program meets at least minimal standards for its
faculty, curriculum, student services and libraries. Accredited status
is conveyed only if institutions and programs provide evidence of fiscal
stability.
- Access to federal
funds.
Accreditation is required for access to federal funds such as student
aid and other federal programs. The federal government and accreditors
sustain a cooperative relationship whereby government relies on
accreditors to confirm the quality of institutions and programs in which
students enroll using federal student aid funds. Federal student aid
funds are available to students only if the institution they are
attending is accredited by a recognized accrediting organization. The
United States awarded $60 billion in student grants and loans in
1997–98.
- Easing transfer. Accreditation is important to
students for a smooth transfer of courses and programs among colleges,
universities and programs. Receiving institutions take note of whether
or not the credits a student wishes to transfer have been earned at an
accredited institution. Although accreditation is but one among several
factors taken into account by receiving institutions, it is viewed
carefully and is considered an important indicator of quality.
- Engendering employer
confidence.
Accreditation status of an institution or program is important to
employers when evaluating credentials of job applicants and when
deciding whether to provide tuition support for current employees
seeking additional education.
How Accreditation
Operates
Accreditation of institutions and
programs take place on a cycle that may range from every few years to as
many as ten years. Accreditation is ongoing—the initial earning of
accreditation is not entry to indefinite accredited status. Periodic
review is a fact of life for accredited institutions and programs.
Self-accreditation is not an option.
An institution or program
seeking accreditation must go through a number of steps stipulated by an
accrediting organization. These steps involve a combination of several
tasks: preparation of evidence of accomplishment by the institution or
program, scrutiny of these materials and a site visit by faculty and
administrative peers, and action to determine accreditation status by the
accrediting organizations.
The five key features of accreditation
are:
- Self-study: Institutions and programs prepare
a written summary of performance based on accrediting organizations'
standards.
- Peer review: Accreditation review is conducted
primarily by faculty and administrative peers in the profession. These
colleagues review the self-study and serve on visiting teams that review
institutions and programs after the self-study is completed. Peers
comprise the majority of members of the accrediting commissions or
boards that make judgments about accrediting status.
- Site visit: Accrediting organizations normally
send a visiting team to review an institution or program. The self-study
provides the foundation for the team visit. Teams, in addition to the
peers described above, may also include public members (non-academics
who have an interest in higher education). All team members are
volunteers and are generally not compensated.
- Action (judgment) by accrediting
organization:
Accrediting organizations have commissions that affirm accreditation for
new institutions and programs, reaffirm accreditation for ongoing
institutions and programs, and deny accreditation to institutions and
programs.
- Ongoing external
review:
Institutions and programs continue to be reviewed over time on cycles
that range from every few years to ten years. They normally prepare a
self-study and undergo a site visit each
time.
Holding Accreditors Accountable
Accreditors are accountable to the
institutions and programs they accredit. They are accountable to the
public and government who have invested heavily in higher education and
expect quality. Accreditors also undertake an organizational
self-assessment on a routine basis and are required to have internal
complaint procedures.
Accreditors undergo a periodic external
review of their organizations known as "recognition." Recognition is
carried out either by another private organization, the Council for Higher
Education Accreditation (CHEA, a national coordinating body for national,
regional and specialized accreditation), or the United States Department
of Education (USDE). Although accreditation is strictly a non-governmental
activity, recognition is not.
As of 1998–99, nineteen (19)
institutional accrediting organizations are or have been recognized by
either CHEA or the USDE or both. These organizations accredit more than
6,500 institutions. Sixty-one (61) specialized accrediting organizations
are or have been recognized and accredit more than 20,000 programs.
CHEA has five recognition standards by which it reviews
accrediting organizations for recognition. The standards place primary
emphasis on academic quality assurance and improvement for an institution
or program. They require accreditors to advance academic quality,
demonstrate accountability, encourage purposeful change and needed
improvement, employ appropriate and fair procedures in decision-making and
continually reassess accreditation practices.
CHEA accreditors are
normally reviewed on a ten-year cycle with a five-year interim report. The
review is carried out by the CHEA Committee on Recognition, a group of
institutional representatives, accreditors and public members who
scrutinize accreditors for their eligibility for CHEA recognition and
review accreditors based on an accreditor self-study. The review may also
include a site visit. The Committee on Recognition makes recommendations
to the CHEA governing board to affirm or deny recognition to an
accreditor.
The USDE recognition standards place primary emphasis
on whether an institution or program is of sufficient quality to qualify
for federal funds for student financial aid and other federal programs.
These standards require accreditors to maintain criteria or standards in
specific areas: student achievement, curricula, faculty, facilities
(includes equipment and supplies), fiscal and administrative capacity,
student support services, recruiting and admissions practices, measures of
the degree and objectives of degrees or credentials offered, record of
student complaints and record of compliance with program responsibilities
for student aid as required by the 1965 federal Higher Education Act
(Title IV) as amended.
USDE recognition review normally takes
place every five years. USDE staff conduct the review based on
communication with the accreditor, a written report from the accreditor
and, from time to time, a visit to the accreditor. USDE staff make
recommendations to the National Advisory Committee on Institutional
Quality and Integrity (NACIQI), an appointed group of educators and public
members, to recognize or not recognize an accrediting organization. The
committee, in turn, recommends action to the U.S. Secretary of Education.
USDE and CHEA recognize many of the same accrediting
organizations, but not all. Accreditors seek USDE or CHEA recognition for
different reasons: USDE recognition is required for accreditors whose
institutions or programs seek eligibility for federal student aid funds.
CHEA recognition confers an academic legitimacy on accrediting
organizations, helping to solidify the place of these organizations and
their institutions and programs in the national higher education
community.
See also: Department of
Education
Further
Reading
Council for
Higher Education Accreditation. (1999) CHEA Almanac of External Quality
Review 1999, Washington, D.C.
United States Department of
Education, Office of Postsecondary Education. (1999, November). Current
List of Nationally Recognized Accrediting Agencies and State Agencies
Recognized for the Approval of Public Postsecondary Vocational Education
and Nurse Education and the Criteria for Recognition by the U.S. Secretary
of Education, Washington, D.C. |
