Accreditation and Quality Assurance
Welcome Dr. Brittingham
I'd like to welcome Dr. Brittingham to the JFDP Forum today. Our session on Accreditation and Quality Assurance is about to begin. Please be sure to send your questions in early to ensure the best chance of having it answered during this live session. On that note, we are delighted to have Dr. Brittingham with us this morning. She is a long-time supporter of the JFDP, and has been providing Fellows with information on the U.S. system of accreditation for over five years. I see that we already have a number of questions waiting for her so without further delay, let me offer a warm welcome from everyone to Dr. Brittingham.
Greetings to Fellows
Welcome to the session on Accreditation and Quality Assurance! It is good to meet this year's Fellows, and I look forward to your questions and our discussion.
Best,
Barbara
Strategy and changes in accreditation
Ms. Barbara Brittingham,
If I understood correctly you don’t have a federal governmental body in the USA that's responsible for higher education? Does it mean that there isn't a unified higher education vision or goals and strategy at the Federal level (only individual state vision, goals and strategies)?
If there are state higher education policies, how do they correspond? If they do not, does it mean that only the market regulates your higher education system?
My host university, University of Denver, successfully finished the accreditation process a few weeks ago. I suppose that this university is under jurisdiction of the North Central Association. Again, if I understood correctly the accreditation cycle has shortened.
They successfully accredited their institution ten years ago, and are going to apply for accreditation again for 5 years. Am I right? If I am, is this the case with other higher education institutions and other accreditation associations? Do you think that this change will make any change in the way higher education institutions function? What were reasons behind this time period shortening?
Thank you.
Accreditation and Quality Assurance
Yes, the U.S. does not have a central Ministry of Higher Education. However, the federal government is making more and more financial aid available to students, and therefore is asserting a stronger role in the quality of higher education. If you follow the link in the webliography you can see how the government "recognizes" accrediting agencies.
The states vary a great deal in how they oversee higher education, especially independent and for-profit higher education. All of the states have ways to oversee the public institutions, some have relatively strong oversight of private higher education, and some have very little oversight when it comes to private colleges and universites.
And yes, the Higher Learning Commission is the same type of agency that we are. The accreditation cycle has traditionally been 10 years, but some of the regional accreditors now have options for shorter cycles. The Northwest group just approved a 7 year cycle with two visits in that period.
Best,
Barbara
Features of Accreditation/QA
Dear Barbara Brittingham,
What are the main distinctive features of "Accreditation and Quality Assurance" in the U.S.?
Thank you,
Hashim