Predecessor | North Central Association of Colleges and Schools |
---|---|
Formation | 1895 |
Purpose | Higher education accreditation |
Headquarters | Chicago, Illinois |
Region served | United States |
Main organ | Board of Directors |
Affiliations | CHEA |
Website | hlcommission.org |
The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) is an institutional accreditor in the United States. It has historically accredited post-secondary education institutions in the central United States: Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. The headquarters of the organization is in Chicago, Illinois.
The United States Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation recognize the commission as an institutional accreditor; it was previously a regional accreditor. [1] [2] HLC grew out of the higher education division of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA), which dissolved in 2014. [3]
The Higher Learning Commission has five major criteria for accreditation. [4] They are: (1) Mission, (2) Ethics, (3) Teaching and Learning: Quality, Resources, and Support, (4) Teaching and Learning: Evaluation and Improvement, and (5) Resources, Planning, and Institutional Effectiveness.
In 2009, the Office of the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Education (OIG-ED) criticized the Higher Learning Commission's oversight of for-profit colleges and recommended that the agency consider "limiting, suspending, or terminating the organization's status." [5] Although the OIG reaffirmed their recommendation that the department consider sanctions for the HLC the following year, adding critical reviews of HLC's accreditation of American InterContinental University and The Art Institute of Colorado [6] , the Department of Education did not withdraw or limit HLC's accreditation authority. Six years later in 2015, the OIG-ED again criticized HLC this time with an audit on the review process the HLC used while considering colleges' proposals for competency-based credentials. [7]
The Academic Quality Improvement Program is a set of policies and procedures that institutions can follow in order to maintain accreditation by the HLC. [8]
The Academic Quality Improvement Program (AQIP) was developed as the "Academic Quality Improvement Project" beginning in 1999 by Stephen Spangehl at the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) (then the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools). [9] The project was funded by a grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts. [10] The project was inspired by Spangehl's experience as an examiner for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, and sought to apply the principles of Total quality management to higher education.
AQIP originally focused on 9 categories of activity that lent themselves to self-assessment and continuous improvement, [11] improved and refined in 2008. [12] The guidelines identified ten core principles—Focus, Involvement, Leadership, Learning, People, Collaboration, Agility, Foresight, Information, and Integrity—that high performing organizations use to guide their operations, and required institutions to develop their own projects to apply those principles tho their own activity and measure their success.
The program took a collaborative approach with "Strategy Forums" where groups of institutions shared their insights about the "Action Projects" they undertook to address various challenges. The records of Action Projects were stored in an online network that other participants could access and use as guidance for future improvements. At the end of the review cycle institutions were responsible for preparing a "Systems Portfolio" that required them to answer specific question about processes, results, and improvements for each of the 9 AQIP categories.
Known as the "AQIP Pathway", AQIP was one of three options (including Standard and Open Pathways) that institutions accredited by the Higher Learning Commission were able to pursue for reaccreditation. [13] Linnea Stenson served as director of the program from 2015 to 2021. [14]
In order to elect participation in AQIP, [15] institutions were required to be accredited for ten years and to have demonstrated established foundations in "expected practice" under traditional pathways. Numerous factors might have made an institution ineligible for the optional pathway, including recent change in control, substantive change, [16] sanction, monitoring, or if the accreditor had serious concerns about the institution's conduct or commitment to required accreditation activities.
At the end of academic year 2019–2020, HLC officially phased out AQIP as an accreditation pathway, [17] leaving only Standard and Open Pathways as re-accreditation options. [15]
University of Phoenix (UoPX) is a private for-profit university headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona. Founded in 1976, the university confers certificates and degrees at the certificate, associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree levels. It is institutionally accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and has an open enrollment admissions policy for many undergraduate programs. The school is owned by Apollo Global Management and Vistria Group.
Trinity International University (TIU) is an evangelical Christian university headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois. It comprises Trinity College, Trinity Graduate School, a theological seminary, a law school, and a camp called Timber-lee. The university also maintains campuses in North Lauderdale, Florida & Miami, Florida; the camp is located in East Troy, Wisconsin. TIU is the only university affiliated with Evangelical Free Church of America in the United States and enrolls about 2,700 students. On February 17, 2023, TIU announced it was moving the undergraduate program to online modalities only and closed the residential campus at the end of the Spring 2023 semester.
Dickinson State University (DSU) is a public university in Dickinson, North Dakota. It is part of the North Dakota University System. It was founded in 1918 as Dickinson State Normal School and granted full university status in 1987.
Capella University is a private for-profit, online university headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The school is owned by the publicly traded Strategic Education, Inc. and delivers most of its education online.
American InterContinental University (AIU) is a private for-profit university with its headquarters in Schaumburg, Illinois. It employs open admissions and is owned by Perdoceo Education Corporation. American InterContinental University is a member of the American InterContinental University System. It is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission to award associate, bachelor's, and master's degrees.
Grand Canyon University (GCU) is a private for-profit Christian university in Phoenix, Arizona. Based on student enrollment, Grand Canyon University was the largest Christian university in the world in 2018, with 20,000 attending students on campus and 70,000 online. As of September 2023, there are more than 100,000 students in attendance.
Western Governors University (WGU) is a private, non-profit online university based in Millcreek, Utah, United States. The university uses an online competency-based learning model, providing advanced education for working professionals. Degrees awarded by WGU are accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU). The university was founded by 19 U.S. governors in 1997 after the idea was formulated at a 1995 meeting of the Western Governors Association to expand education offerings to the internet.
Chancellor University was a private for-profit university in Cleveland, Ohio. The school was founded in 1848 as Folsom's Mercantile College to teach basic bookkeeping and business skills. It underwent several changes of name and ownership during its history. The college closed on August 25, 2013, at the conclusion of the summer semester.
Community College of Denver (CCD) is a public community college in Denver, Colorado. The main campus is at Auraria Campus and it has two other locations in the Denver metropolitan area. CCD focuses on underserved, first-generation, and minority students.
West Shore Community College is a public community college in Scottville, Michigan.
Northern College is an adult residential college based at Wentworth Castle in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England.
Walsh College is a private college in Troy, Michigan. Founded in 1922 by Mervyn B. Walsh, an accountant with the Thomas Edison Light Company, Walsh College is an upper division undergraduate and graduate institution that provides a transformative business and technology education that combines theory, application, and professional experience to prepare graduates for successful careers.
American College of Education (ACE) is a private for-profit online college based in Indianapolis, Indiana, focused on education, healthcare, nursing, and business. American College of Education is a certified B Corporation and a subsidiary of ACE Holdco PBC of Dallas, Texas.
The Commission for Academic Accreditation (CAA) is the national quality assurance and regulatory agency responsible for evaluation and accreditation of higher educational institutions and universities in the United Arab Emirates. Established in 2000, it comes under the country's Ministry of Education.
Higher education in the Philippines is offered through various degree programs by colleges and universities—also known as higher education institutions (HEIs). These HEIs are administered and regulated by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).
WGU Indiana is a private, non-profit online school established by the state of Indiana to expand access to higher education for Indiana residents, which is a branch campus of Western Governors University. Formed by a partnership between the state and Western Governors University, the university offers more than 50 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in Business, Information Technology, Teacher Education, and Health Professions, including Nursing. As of May 31, 2016, it served roughly 4,500 students across the state of Indiana. WGU Indiana was established through an executive order on June 14, 2010 by Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, as a partnership between the state and Western Governors University in an effort to expand access to higher education for Indiana residents and increase the percentage of the state's adult population with education beyond high school. The mission of WGU Indiana is to expand access to affordable higher education for Indiana residents through online degree programs that address key workforce needs. WGU Indiana is a wholly owned subsidiary of Western Governors University, which was founded in 1997 by 19 U.S. governors to expand access to higher education through online degree programs. Today, Western Governors University is a national university, with more than 70,000 students from all 50 U.S. states as of June 30, 2016. Non-profit but self-sustaining on tuition, WGU Indiana provides new educational opportunities for Indiana residents without ongoing state subsidy. WGU Indiana accepts applications only from residents in the state of Indiana. There is no minimum high school grade point average for admission, and no minimum score on the SAT or ACT. However, all applicants must pass an admissions examination administered by the university.
Pre-tertiary-education accreditation is a type of quality assurance process used in the United States under which services and operations of pre-tertiary schools and educational institutions or programs are evaluated by an external body to determine if applicable standards are met.
Higher education accreditation is a type of quality assurance process under which services and operations of post-secondary educational institutions or programs are evaluated to determine if applicable standards are met. If standards are met, accredited status is granted by the agency.
National Commission for Academic Accreditation and Assessment (NCAAA) is an organ of Saudi Arabia's Education and Training Evaluation Commission that oversees the country's school accreditation facility. It is an autonomous body but directly responsible to the council of higher education.
The Higher Education Quality Improvement Program (MECESUP) in Chile is part of the efforts of the Government of Chile to support the transition from its current economy to one based on knowledge, increasing the equity and the effectiveness of its tertiary education system.