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ÃÛÌÒÊÓÆµ State Accreditation Informational Series: Who is Our Accreditor?

March 18, 2021

Welcome to our series on accreditation! ISU’s institutional accreditation site visit is scheduled for October 5-7, 2021. To answer your questions on this process and its importance to ISU, we have prepared a series of questions and answers that will appear in ISU Today over the next few months. We begin with “who is our accreditor?â€

Who is our accreditor?

The (NWCCU) is ISU’s institutional accreditor. NWCCU accredits institutions in Alaska, British Columbia, ÃÛÌÒÊÓÆµ, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington. A directory of institutions accredited by NWCCU is available

Other institutional accreditors include: New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE); Higher Learning Commission (HLC); Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE); Southern Association on Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC); Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC); and WASC Senior College and University Commission. These private, nonprofit organizations are members of the (C-RAC). A history of accreditation in the United States is available on the U.S. Department of Education’s

Institutional accreditation involves a peer-review process that evaluates the institutions’ compliance with a set of standards. The process begins with an extensive self-study followed by an on-site visit by a peer review team. This rigorous process assesses the quality of educational programming and encourages a culture of continuous improvement. As C-RAC’s website states, “the primary focus for C-RAC members is to assure postsecondary quality and protect students.â€

NWCCU accredits ISU as an institution. In addition, some of ISU’s programs have specialized or programmatic accreditation. A list of ISU programs with specialized accreditation is available on this page under “Program Review Schedule.â€

Please direct questions about our upcoming accreditation to Darren Blagburn, Cindy Hill, Stefanie Shadduck, or Joanne Tokle.

Next in this series: what does accreditation mean for ISU?

 


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