Accreditation is
the “good housekeeping seal of approval” for colleges and universities. Without
it, our credits would not transfer, employers would not recognize our
graduates, and the U.S. federal government would not process the millions of
dollars our students receive in financial aid each year. To obtain and maintain
accreditation, colleges must undergo an organizational “self-study” every 10
years and assess itself against seven standards, as defined by the Middle
States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE). Colleges produce a self-study
document that is sent to MSCHE and an evaluation team comprised of peers from
other community colleges in the Middle States region (excluding our neighbors
here in New York who are part of the same SUNY system).
As one of seven
regional accrediting agencies, MSCHE is under the same pressure as the other
regions to demonstrate to the federal government that peer evaluation and
accreditation have teeth — rigor and consequences are tangible. The self-study
process is a two-year organizational endeavor involving more than a quarter of
full-time employees in significant committee work; more than half in meaningful
participation; and nearly all in one way or another in addition to a variety of
opportunities for students and community members. Our self-study will be in
complete draft form by the start of fall 2017. We'll host the evaluation team
chair in the fall and receive feedback to finalize our document by the start of
the spring 2018 semester. The process will be complete when the team visits us
in the spring of 2018 and makes their recommendation to the MSCHE Board for
action at their July 2018 meeting.
Although
accreditation, and the standards it requires, may have seemed like a "spot
check" on organizational operations in the past, this is no longer the
case. With a variety of external accountability forces driving change in
community colleges (and higher education as a whole), the self-study process
for accreditation is increasingly becoming about demonstrating how colleges are
continuously undergoing self-study for institutional improvement. The
accreditation standards simply provide the minimum standards and guidance for
what every good institution of higher education should be and do.
MVCC does not shy
away from this shift to continually assessing itself and striving to improve. Our
self-study workgroups working very hard to ask the tough questions and distill
an accurate reflection of where the college has been over the past 10 years;
where we are; and clarify our challenges and opportunities for the future. As a
college, we are increasingly recognizing that we need to continue developing
our systems, programs, and services because we have data to inform our thinking
that we're doing the right things, for the right reasons, with the right
outcomes. Accreditation does indeed provide that external stamp of approval for
the college but to truly thrive in these changing times of paradox and
uncertainty, we need to be doing things because they're what we need to do to
be a great institution well into the future.
If you have any
questions or comments about this post, please contact me directly at presblog@mvcc.edu.
