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NCA Accreditation Criteria, Federal Compliance, and Special Emphases

Introductory Chapter: The Introduction provides a brief history of the University, significant changes to the University in the last 10 years (e.g., new facilities, new academic programs, renaming of the regional center to Western Illinois University-Quad Cities) and responses to the last site team visit. In 2001, Western Illinois University received a ten-year reaccreditation with no stipulations about interim reports or visits. This is the most favorable outcome the accreditation process allows.

Criterion 1: focuses on mission and evaluates the extent to which Western Illinois University operates with integrity to ensure the fulfillment of its mission through structures and processes that involve the board, administration, faculty, staff, and students.

Criterion 2: focuses on planning and evaluates the extent to which the University's allocation of resources and its processes for evaluation and planning demonstrate its capacity to fulfill its mission, improve the quality of its education, and respond to future challenges and opportunities.

Criterion 3: focuses on instruction and assessment of student learning outcomes and evaluates if the organization provides evidence of student learning and teaching effectiveness that demonstrates it is fulfilling its educational mission.

Criterion 4: focuses on research and creative activities and evaluates the extent to which Western Illinois University promotes a life of learning for its faculty, administration, staff, and students by fostering and supporting inquiry, creativity, practice, and social responsibility in ways consistent with its mission.

Criterion 5: emphasizes service and evaluates whether Western Illinois University, as called for by its mission, identifies its constituencies and serves them in ways both value.

Federal Compliance: The 1992 and 1998 Amendments to the Higher Education Act, and subsequent changes to federal regulations by the U.S. Department of Education, put into law several requirements for accrediting agencies that seek federal recognition. This section requires Western Illinois University to document its:

• Credits, program length, and tuition
• Institutional compliance with the Higher Education Reauthorization Act
• Federal compliance visits to off-campus locations
• Institution's advertising and recruitment materials
• Professional accreditation
• Requirements of institutions holding dual institutional accreditation
• Institutional records of student complaints

Special Emphases: The special emphasis section of the self-study is optional and gives the University the ability to self-study in greater detail opportunities that advance institutional priorities. This section requires application from and approval by the HLC-NCA. Western Illinois University will complete special emphasis self studies in the areas of Distance Learning, Growing The Two Campuses Of Western Illinois University and Measuring And Demonstrating Our Core Values.

Western Illinois University's self-study teams will be responsible for generating a report that shows with examples of evidence that University meets all of the core components defined below, and the site visit team will then determine if the criteria have been met.