By Apryl Mock
SE is currently undergoing a comprehensive evaluation for continued accreditation, according to Dr. Bryon Clark, assistant vice president of academic affairs.
Accreditation is important for many reasons, one of them being that unaccredited institutions are not eligible to provide federal financial aid programs such as Pell grants to students, according to Clark.
SE is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, which accredits more than 1,000 institutions in 19 states, according to Clark.
SE is currently undergoes the process every ten years, although that may change if the HLC feels a more frequent evaluation is necessary.
The HLC will be sending a team of six peer evaluators Feb. 24-26 to evaluate the campus in person, said Clark.
Clark is the accreditation coordinator at SE and has been a member of several peer evaluation groups for other institutions, along with Doug McMillian, vice president of academic affairs.
“You have to be actively involved in the process in order to understand the requirements,” Clark said.
According to Clark, while the peer review team is on campus, they will interact with whomever they feel necessary in order to adequately evaluate SE.
He added that there is usually an open meeting for students so they can interact with the peer review team; Clark encourages students to participate in this open meeting once it is scheduled.
“The team and committee think that this process should engage the whole campus community. We wouldn’t be here without the students, so it’s important that they have a role in the process,” Clark said.
Once the peer review team completes their report, they will send it to the HLC.
The HLC will then inform SE of their final decision 4 to 6 months later, according to Clark.
The peer review team gives the HLC their recommendations, but it is ultimately the HLC, who makes the final decision, said Clark.
According to Clark, accreditation is important to the university on three levels: the student level, the public level and the faculty level.
For students, accreditation facilitates the transfer of credits to other institutions.
For example, SE will not accept a student seeking a master’s degree who has a bachelor’s degree from an unaccredited institution, said Clark.
Accreditation also helps students with their post graduation plans. Some graduate programs and jobs require a degree from an accredited school, said Clark.
On the public level, accreditation shows the community that the institution meets the five standard criteria for accreditation and is providing valuable goods and services to the community, Clark said.
On the faculty level, accreditation allows for the university to self-assess and ensures that the university maintains a “continuous cycle of improvement, “said Clark.
These levels come together in the self-assessment report the university provides to the HLC, according to Clark. The report is put together by an array of faculty, students and administrative staff to assess whether or not the university is in agreement with the five criteria of accreditation, according to Clark.
The five criteria for accreditation are mission; ethical and responsible conduct; teaching and learning: quality resources and support; teaching and learning: evaluation and improvement; and resources, planning and effectiveness. According to Clark, the mission criterion reviews the mission statement of the university and whether or not that mission statement is appropriate, clearly presented to the public and used to guide institutional operations.
Ethical and responsible conduct refers to the institution’s ability to adhere to policies and procedures that ensure integrity, Clark said.
The quality of resources and support criterion evaluates SE’s ability to provide student-centered education and to provide students with ample opportunities to reach out for help, Clark said.
Evaluation and improvement assesses SE’s ability to self-assess and approve upon its shortcomings, according to Clark.
Resources, planning and effectiveness is an evaluation of SE’s ability to effectively allocated funds, use resources and plan for the future. This is to ensure that SE will continue to provide its services to students, said Clark.
The work for the accreditation process began more than two years ago.
A steering committee was created and those on the committee divided up the task of creating the self-assessment report which is presented to the HLC, according to Clark.
The self-assessment contains everything from the student handbook to financial audits and recruitment materials.
The assessment is then handed over to a peer review team, who reviews the material before they make their visit to campus.
SE has a good record with accreditation, being continually accredited since 1949, according to Clark. Institutions who are evaluated by the HLC are not ranked on a scale or compared to each other, said Clark.
Each institution is judged on it’s own merits and goals.
Clark said, “The most important part of accreditation is that it provides SE a chance to self-reflect, to identify what we are doing well and the areas where we need improvement. Then we can use this to implement a continuous cycle of improvement.”