HLC - Accreditation - Introduction of HLC

Accreditation: HLC & NCA

What is the 'HLC' ?

The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) is an independent corporation and one of two Commission members of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA), which was founded in 1895 as one of six regional institutional accreditors in the United States.
The Higher Learning Commission accredits, and thereby grants membership in the Commission and in the North Central Association, to degree-granting educational institutions in the North Central region:
Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
HLC is recognized by the US Department of Education and the Council on Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA).

What does the 'HLC' do? Overview (0.2 MB pdf)
Handbook (4 MB pdf)

In June 2000, the Commission adopted new statements of mission, vision, values, and strategic priorities.
The Commission's mission statement is succinct, yet directive:

Serving the common good by assuring and advancing the quality of higher learning

The Commission's work is guided by the core values of quality, integrity, innovation, diversity, inclusiveness, service, collaboration, and learning, each of which is of equal weight and importance.
The Commission's vision is to be known for its distinctive strengths of integrity, flexibility, creativity, responsiveness, and risk-taking, and for its commitment to work for the common good of society.

Visit the Commission's Web site at www.ncahigherlearningcommission.org

The Evaluation Process

The HLC Program to Evaluate and Advance Quality (PEAQ) employs a five-step comprehensive evaluation process to determine continued accredited status.

The organization engages in a self-study process for approximately two years and prepares a report of its findings in accordance with Commission expectations.
The Commission sends an evaluation team of Consultant-Evaluators to conduct a comprehensive visit for continued accreditation and to write a report containing the team's recommendations.
The documents relating to the comprehensive visit are reviewed by a Readers Panel or, in some situations, a Review Committee.
HLC's Institutional Action Council takes action on the Readers Panel's recommendation.
(If a Review Committee reviewed the visit, the Review Committee takes action.)
The Board of Trustees validates the work of the Institional Action Council or a Review Committee, finalizing the action.

The CRITERIA FOR ACCREDITATION

The Criteria for Accreditation are organized under five major headings.
Each Criterion has three elements:

Criterion Statement
Core Components
Examples of Evidence.

The Criteria Statements define necessary attributes of an organization accredited by the Commission.
An organization must be judged to have met each of the Criteria to merit accreditation.
An organization addresses each Core Component as it presents reasonable and representative evidence of meeting a Criterion.
The Examples of Evidence illustrate the types of evidence an organization might present in addressing a Core Component.

The Criteria are intentionally general so that accreditation decisions focus on the particulars of each organization, rather than on trying to make it fit a preestablished mold.
The widely different purposes and scopes of colleges and universities demand criteria that are broad enough to encompass diversity and support innovation, but clear enough to ensure acceptable quality.