Chapter 5: Accreditation And Building Excellence

If your college is not accredited, you may want to investigate this process. Accreditation brands your college with a logo that indicates a level of quality commensurate with the membership of that accreditation. Gaining accreditation can take years, but once accredited your college bears the recognition of that accrediting body and your college gains access to the support structures of that body. The highest accrediting bodies provide a great deal of value. While smaller regional accrediting bodies may be cheaper, less recognized, and require fewer changes to your college recordkeeping or methods to acquire, these can be a good method to build the college on the road to higher accreditations, or they may be appropriate to your college and university strategic plans. Choosing the right accreditation for your college is an important step that requires negotiation with the leadership of the university and the members of the college.