Reaccreditation Planning Overview (PPT)
A detailed self-examination as part of the university’s 10-year reaccreditation process will involve scores of faculty, administrators and students.
The self-study process, guided by nine campus committees, will be shaping Northeastern’s responses under 11 standards set out by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC), the regional accreditating body. The campus community will be invited to open meetings and to comment on draft committee reports posted online along the way, said the study’s co-chairs.
“We have every expectation we will be reaccredited,” said Provost Ahmed Abdelal. “But this is an opportunity for the campus community to assist us in determining where the university is relative to its aspirations, and where we need to go.
“It’s perfect that we have just completed a new Academic Plan, which looks at things from what I call a 30,000-foot level, and now we can look at how best to implement that plan. To do that you need to have a lot of significant discussion among the faculty and staff and students.”
Said Mark Putnam, senior vice president for executive affairs: “The purpose is for the institution to enter a period of self-reflection — take stock of where it is in terms of its programs, services and significant initiatives.”
The accreditation team that will visit in November, led by a university president and including faculty and administrators from colleague universities, will “not be looking at specific programs,” Putnam said. “They look at whether our planning and organization and resources are appropriate to the institution’s mission and purpose.”
“The challenges we know very well,” said Abdelal. “If you know academic communities, you know we’re very, very good at critical assessments. We don’t wait for outsiders to be critical.
“For this process, we have not only to describe our Academic Plan in realistic detail, but then project how we get there,” he said.
In Northeastern’s case, the self-study will be one of “special emphasis” — focusing on key areas of the university’s Academic Plan, specifically experiential learning and interdisciplinary and translational research. “NEASC permits this as a way the self-study can be used to serve the institution’s interest as well as fulfilling reaccreditation requirements,” Putnam said.
The 11 reaccreditation standards the self-study must address are: mission and purpose; planning and evaluation; organization and governance; the academic program; faculty; students; library and other informational resources; physical and technological resources; financial resources; public disclosure; and integrity.
Abdelal said Northeastern’s final report will include the foci on experiential education and on interdisciplinary and translational research under the rubric of academics.
“The other key themes of our Academic Plan will of course be addressed throughout,” the provost said, “but we are limited (by NEASC) to 100 pages.”
Both Putnam and Abdelal have served on accreditation teams. They noted that, after the team’s visit, it will write a report that includes not only an assessment of Northeastern’s self-assessment but perhaps recommendations as well. “This is a way in which you have the benefit of an external team of experts,” Putnam noted.
That team will be free to talk to anyone on campus, and may seek individual, departmental or campus-wide meetings to gather input. “That’s why awareness of this process is critical,” said Putnam. “They will be here this fall and they will want to talk with people.”
The committees plan to have drafts completed by mid March, with a draft of the full self-study ready for community input in April, Putnam said. NEASC requires the final report by September, in time for the reaccreditation team to read before its visit.
The university is developing a web site to share and gather information; questions and comments can also be sent to Kay Onan, special assistant to the president, at k.onan@neu.edu.
The importance of accreditation — a voluntary but expected benchmark for universities — cannot be overstated, Putnam said.
“Accreditation creates a certain assurance about an institution’s standing in the higher education community,” he said. “That standing then provides access to federal funding,” both for research and for student aid.
— Jim Chiavelli