Accreditation

The Higher Learning Commission is the arm of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools that is responsible for the regional accreditation of colleges, universities and other institutions of higher learning.

The North Central Association is one of six regional associations that accredit schools and colleges in the United States. Although most of the colleges and universities the NCA Higher Learning Commission accredits are in the upper Midwest, its geographical range extends from West Virginia to Arizona.

The HLC’s current set of criteria for evaluation are:

• Mission and Integrity - The organization operates with integrity to ensure the fulfillment of its mission through structures and processes that involve the board, administration, faculty, staff, and students.
• Preparing for the Future - The organization's allocation of resources and its processes for evaluation and planning demonstrate its capacity to fulfill its mission, improve the quality of its education, and respond to future challenges and opportunities.
• Student Learning and Effective Teaching - The organization provides evidence of student learning and teaching effectiveness that demonstrates it is fulfilling its educational mission.
• Acquisition, Discovery and Application of Knowledge - The organization promotes a life of learning for its faculty, administration, staff, and students by fostering and supporting inquiry, creativity, practice, and social responsibility in ways consistent with its mission.
• Engagement and Service - As called for by its mission, the organization identifies its constituencies and serves them in ways valued by the institution and the constituents.

Within each of the criteria, there are a minimum of four core components to add additional focus to the criteria. Components of these criteria and examples of evidence are available at: www.ncahlc.org/information-for-institutions/criteria-for-accreditation.html.

Roughly every five years the Higher Learning Commission is obliged to review its Criteria for Accreditation. Revised criteria will go into effect in January 2013.

The Distance Education and Training Council is a non-profit [501 c 6] educational association located in Washington, D.C. The Council was founded in 1926 to promote sound educational standards and ethical business practices within the correspondence field. 

The DETC is a voluntary, non-governmental, educational organization that operates a nationally recognized accrediting association, the DETC Accrediting Commission.

The DETC Accrediting Commission defines, maintains, and promotes educational excellence in distance education institutions. The Commission is dedicated to fostering quality assurance, protection of the rights of the students and institutional self-improvement through voluntary accreditation via peer evaluation. DETC accreditation aims to instill public confidence in DETC institutions' missions, goals, performances, and resources through rigorous application and peer-developed accreditation standards.

In order to implement the process of accreditation, the Accrediting Commission published accreditation standards. These 12 standards are used by the Commission to measure the educational quality, financial responsibility, administrative competency, and general worthiness of an institution. These standards are the key tenets of the DETC accreditation process. They are the stated criteria that characterize quality and excellence in distance learning.

Briefly, the standards require an institution to:

1. Have a clearly defined and stated mission, goals, and objectives;
2. State its educational objectives clearly, and offer sufficiently comprehensive, accurate, up-to-date, educationally sound instructional materials, and methods to meet its educational objectives;
3. Provide adequate student services;
4. Provide adequate examination services and attention to individual student differences;
5. Have students who express satisfaction with the instruction and services received, and have an outcomes assessment plan;
6. Have a qualified faculty;
7. Enroll only students who can be expected to benefit from the instruction;
8. Be honest in its advertising and promotional practices;
9. Show financial resources that are adequate to carry out all obligations to students;
10. Use fair and equitable tuition and refund policies that meet the minimum DETC tuition cancellation policies;
11. Have adequate facilities, equipment, and record protection; and
12. Conduct continuous research and self-improvement studies.

To become accredited, each institution must have made an intensive study of its own operations, opened its doors to a thorough inspection by an outside examining committee, supplied all information required by the Accrediting Commission, and submitted its instructional materials for a thorough review by competent subject matter specialists. The process is repeated every five years.