Who Knew? 5 Surprises About Accreditation
Jamienne S. Studley
February 17, 2022
Accreditation is stepping up its game in an evolving higher education landscape in ways that may surprise you, writes Jamienne Studley.
It’s no surprise that accreditation is misunderstood. The accreditation system exists precisely to allow for tailored, predictive judgments applying broad standards to infinitely varied institutions. Add multiple accrediting agencies with different approaches, terminology and mandates, with some accreditors evaluating whole institutions and others specific programs, and it’s a recipe for the description “black box.”
I receive so many questions about accreditation—variations of “really, an accreditor does that?”—that it’s time to share some facts about accreditation that may be surprising to many. Some are long-standing practices, while others are recent developments. Some are common across accreditation agencies, while others are agency-specific. Focusing on the agency I lead, WASC Senior College and University Commission, reveals how accreditation can focus on equity, outcomes, student success and institutional risk monitoring in a new landscape of national scope and innovation.
