Seal of approval: NGU works through the decennial re-accreditation process
Samantha Martin, News Editor
The week of Feb. 22-25, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) made it’s decennial visit to North Greenville. The visit, postponed from the spring semester of 2020, was held virtually and included Zoom meetings with students, faculty and staff in order to determine if North Greenville would keep it’s accreditation.
SACSCOC explains what accreditation means in their handbook, Principles of Accreditation.
“The culmination of the accreditation process is a public statement of an institution’s continuing capacity to provide effective programs and services based on agreed-upon requirements.”
Other institutions who have no stake in the university take an objective look at the university and compare documentation provided by the university, interviews with students, faculty and staff and their own observations to determine if the university has held itself to the standards SACSCOC requires. If the university has done so, they are re-accredited, which in essence is a ‘seal-of-approval’ from others working in higher education.
“Accreditation is about accountability. We need to be accountable to students, to faculty and staff, to alumans and to the wider community,” said Nathan Finn, Provost and Dean of University Faculty.
Because of the delay in SACSCOC visiting North Greenville’s campus, accreditation was extended through the year 2020, with the condition that the university would be up for accreditation again in 2030 in order to continue with the existing schedule.
Photo courtesy of Unsplash.com
North Greenville is continually in a state of self evaluation, with annual assessments from major offices around campus, a five year cycle of program review rotating through different majors and the ten year accreditation visits.
“It’s a difficult process, but it’s valuable,” said George Hopson, Director of Institutional Assessment and Planning.
Accreditation is an important factor for students to consider when applying to colleges, and therefore, make this visit from the SACSCOC a largely important event for the university.
“Recognition of completing work at an accredited institution is good for a student when they apply for most jobs,” said Hopson.
Attending accredited universities is also a must for students to receive federal financial aid.
According to ACICS, an independent national accrediting body, the accreditation process “Provides a basis for determining eligibility for federal student assistance. Students must attend an accredited institution to apply for federal grants or loans.”
“When it [the SACSCOC visit] was postponed, nobody knew if it was going to be a live visit or a virtual visit, but as it got closer, it was understood that it was going to have to be a virtual visit,” said Hopson.
In order to accomplish the visit virtually, students as well as faculty and staff were recruited with a regional cross section for en masse Zoom interviews.
“When SACSCOC goes to every university, they want to have conversations with different stakeholders at the university,” said Finn.
Students were asked about a variety of subjects from freshman year experience to relationships students have with their professors.
“We talked about our professors and how we had a very personable relationship with our professors and we thought that was something you could get here,” said Robert Nickles, a junior Spanish major.
COVID not only led to the postponement of the SACSCOC visit, it also made online learning the primary mode of learning for all students for nearly two months during the spring of 2020 and the best option for some who were particularly susceptible to the virus.
“There was one thing about the whole online format that was brought up at some point that I kind of agreed with that when it comes to the online stuff if we could just move up with the technology a bit,” said Nickles.
While this concern spoke to a need for improved technology, other queries were brought to focus on how curriculum could be better tailored to students.
“One thing I would really like to see improvement on is curriculum specificity and making GenEds really relevant to each major — which ones should certain majors take more of, and just really making that specific so people aren’t wasting their time or their money on something that’s not useful for what they want to do,” said Ashleigh Moore, a senior voice performance major and concert choir section leader and secretary.
SACSCOC takes all information provided by students, faculty and documentation provided by the school and presents information in an exit interview, as well as a formal report to the university. The overall feeling of administration was positive after, as out of nearly ninety standards and substandards the university needed to achieve, nearly all were met.
“We had three recommendations during the exit interview. We have to work on and respond to them, but I don’t think they are major,” said Hopson.
North Greenville not only wants to hold itself accountable to students, faculty and staff, but to serve in faith with the responsibilities placed upon it.
“Accreditation is also about stewardship; the Lord has given us these resources. We want to be the very best stewards of this institution we possibly can be, and accreditation is one way that we confirm that we are being good stewards,” said Finn.
