The Need For
Accreditation

“Accreditation” is review of the quality of higher education institutions and programs. In the world, accreditation is a major way that students, families, government officials, and the press know that an institution or program provides a quality education.

Accreditation in higher education is a collegial process based on self and peer assessment. Its purpose is the improvement of academic quality and public accountability. This continuing quality control process occurs usually every five to ten years.

Accreditation is a term covering both the initial and ongoing approval of a school, postsecondary institution, or program offering as meeting the standards established by a nationally recognized accrediting association for membership in the association. Accrediting associations are voluntary membership organizations that undertake to monitor the academic and administrative quality of their members, which are either entire institutions or components.

In the academic world, accreditation is the primary way that students, families, the public, and government officials know that an institution provides a quality education. Accreditors, such as the GAN, are private, non-governmental organizations created for the purpose of establishing standards of accreditation and reviewing institutions and programs against these standards. Each accrediting organization has bylaws or a constitution that describes the legal framework for its activities and operations.

Whether a college, university, or program is accredited is important:

• Students who want federal (and sometimes state) grants and loans need to attend a college, university, or program that is accredited.
• Employers ask if a college, university, or program is accredited before deciding to provide tuition assistance to current employees, evaluating the credentials of new employees, or making a charitable contribution.
• The federal government requires that a college, university, or program be accredited in order to be eligible for federal grants and loans or other federal funds.
• State governments require that a college, university, or program be accredited when they make state funds available to students or institutions and when they allow students to sit for state licensure examinations in some professional fields.

Accreditation is a complicated subject. “Informing the Public About Accreditation” is an effort to reduce this complexity and provide the public with answers to these basic questions:

When using the database:

• To learn about a specific college or university, type in the name of the institution.
• To learn about an institution in a specific state, type in the name of the state.
• To find out whether a particular accrediting organization accredits an institution, click on the name of the accreditor.

Who Are the Accreditors?

The accreditors are private, nongovernmental organizations created for the specific purpose of reviewing higher education institutions and programs for quality. In most other countries, accreditation (or quality assurance) is carried out by government organizations.

The accreditation process entails

• the preparation of a self-evaluation report – a detailed examination of how the institution meets accreditation standards and policies
• a team visit and report prepared by a team of education administrators, faculty, and practitioners with specialized expertise who determine whether or not accreditation standards are being met
• a final review and accreditation decision made by the accreditor’s decision-making council or commission. The Commission members typically include education administrators, faculty, members of the public and other experts in the education field.

Accreditation Standards – requirements accreditors establish in areas that include academic quality, curriculum requirements, faculty, student services, ethical business practice, academic support services, learning and research resources, administrative capacity and financial capacity. These standards are developed by the accreditor in consultation with the institutions, faculty, students, administrators and members of the public.

Accreditation Policies – set forth descriptions of the functions and activities of the accrediting organization. Policies typically describe the process of accreditation, substantive changes, due process, appeals, information sharing and conflict of interest. Policies are also developed in consultation with institutions and the public.

Functions of Accreditation:

1. Certifying that an institution or program has met established standards 
2. Assisting prospective students in identifying acceptable institutions 
3. Assisting institutions in determining the acceptability of transfer credits 
4. Helping to identify institutions and programs for the investment of public and private funds.
5. Protecting an institution against harmful internal and external pressure 
6. Creating goals for self-improvement of weaker programs and stimulating a general raising of standards among educational institutions 
7. Involving the faculty and staff comprehensively in situational evaluation and planning 
8. Establishing criteria for professional certification and licensure and for upgrading federal assistance 

The Accrediting Procedure:

1. Standards: The accrediting agency, in collaboration with its communities of interest, establishes and periodically revises standards and policies. 
2. Self-study: The institution or program seeking accreditation prepares an in-depth self-study that measures its performance against the standards established by the accrediting agency. 
3. On-site Evaluation: The association selects a team of external academic and administrative experts from other similar institutions or programs. The team reviews the self-study and visits the institution or program to determine first-hand if the applicant meets the established standards. The evaluation team issues its report of findings enumerating any conditions that need to be met before full positive approval may be given. 
4. Publication: The association’s members of the Board of Commissioners vote on the status of the candidate or member, and publish the names and information about successful candidates and re-accredited members in the next annual edition of its official approved list. 
5. Reevaluation: The accrediting agency periodically reevaluates each institution or program that it lists to ascertain whether continuation of its accredited or pre-accredited status is warranted. 

Types of Accreditation

There are two basic types of educational accreditation: one identified as “institutional” and one referred to as “specialized” or “programmatic.”

Institutional accreditation normally applies to an entire institution, indicating that each of an institution’s parts is contributing to the achievement of the institution’s objectives, although not necessarily all at the same level of quality. The various commissions of the regional accrediting associations, for example, perform institutional accreditation, as do many national accrediting agencies.

Specialized or programmatic accreditation normally applies to programs, departments, or schools that are part of an institution. The accredited unit may be as large as a college or school within a university or as small as a curriculum within a discipline. Most of the specialized or programmatic accrediting agencies review units within an institution of higher education that is accredited by one of the regional accrediting commissions. However, certain accrediting agencies also accredit professional schools and other specialized or vocational institutions of higher education that are freestanding in their operations. Thus, a specialized or “programmatic” accrediting agency may also function in the capacity of an “institutional” accrediting agency.