HLC- Regional Reaccreditation

Dr. Joseph FrizadoVice Provost for Academic Operations & Assessment

Reaccreditation under Open Pathways

Regional Accreditation

• North Central-Higher Learning Commission• 10 years• Self-study– 2 years to produce– Hundreds of pages– Resource Room

• New methodology – Open Pathway

Why Accreditation?

• Ensures transferability of course credits• Assures colleges and employers that a

student's education meet acceptable levels of quality

• Allows students’ access to federal financial aid

Open Pathway

• Two components– Quality Initiative– Assurance Document

Quality Initiative• New proposal/project to improve institutional quality• Original proposal identified two areas

– Enrollment Management and General Education

• HLC Consultants visited Mar. 2010• Expand the student populations for BGSU enrollment

and implement programs to recruit them and retain them to successful degree completion.

University Learning Commons

Assurance Document

• Replaces the self study• Moved to an online process• Requires answering a series of prompts to

address five major criteria• New criteria

Criteria• Mission• Integrity: Ethical & Responsible Conduct• Teaching & Learning: Quality, Resources, and

Support• Teaching & Learning: Evaluation and

Improvement• Resources, Planning, and Institutional

Effectiveness

Federal Compliance• Credits, program length and tuition• Student complaint process• Transfer policies• Verify student identities (distance)• Title IV information• Institutional Disclosures on Advertising/Recruitment

Materials• Relationships with other Accrediting Agencies• Public Notice of Evaluation Visit

Title IV Information• General programs findings• Financial Responsibilities requirements• Student loan default rates• Campus Crime information• Student Right to Know• Satisfactory Progress/Attendance Policies• Contractual relationships• Consortial relationships

Campus Visit• Assurance Argument Website is closed on March 15th

• BGSU Documents available via web to HLC• Campus Visit April 15th – 16th • Specific meetings

• President• Board of Trustees• Faculty Senate leadership• Requested clarifications

• Open Forum Public meetings (faculty, staff, students and all other interested parties)

Participating in the Process

• Federal Notification- email/letter directly to HLC

• Comments on draft• During the visit– Public fora on Criteria– Drop-in sessions for any general comments