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OFFICE OF THE VICE-PRESIDENT, ACADEMIC AND PROVOST S.09-120

8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC TEL: 778.782.3925 vpacad@sfu.ca Canada V5A 1S6 FAX: 778.782.5876 www.sfu.ca/vpacademic

MEMORANDUM

ATTENTION Senate

FROM Dr. Jonathan Driver, Vice-President, Academic and Provost

RE: NWCCU Accreditation Update

DATE October 13, 2009

PAGES 1/1

I am providing for Senate's information an update on the progr of our application for

accreditation with the Northwest Commission on Colleges and L

s, and plans for the next stage

of the process. I have also attached the revised accreditation stand

are currently being discussed

by NWCCU and the accredited institutions.

0 Attachments (2)

.

SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY THINKING OF THE WORLD

U pdate to the Board of Governors and Senate

SFU Accreditation with the Northwest Commission on Colle ges and Universities (NWCCU)

Jon Driver, Vice-President Academic, 9th October 2009

1. Background/introduction

In October 2008 SFU made application to the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU) to be considered as a candidate for full accreditation. The NWCCU Board met in January 2009 and after perusing wide-ranging SFU documentation and interviewing Vice-President Academic Jon Driver, they approved SFU's consideration for candidacy. This outcome was reported to.the Board of Governors at the meeting held on March 26, 2009.

2. Why accreditation?

Canada is one of the shrinking number of countries that has no national or regional • accreditation process in the tertiary education sector.

In addition there are a number of other reasons for SFU seeking accreditation, these include:

• Increasingly, international students are seeking assurance that the institutions that they are attending have some kind of accreditation and quality assurance. This is a particular need in BC since there have been a number of private post-secondary institution failures which have generated a huge amount of negative publicity abroad.

• SFU intends increasing its international profile and needs to ensure that it is attracting the very best international students.

• The goals and outcomes of accreditation are congruent with our academic planning and tie into the larger strategic planning exercise for the university. Adhering to an accepted and broadly recognized set of best practice standards will result in enhanced academic quality, stronger demonstrated accountability and improved institutional assessment and evaluation. Accreditation would contribute to benchmarks/standards for assessing learning outcomes, and facilitate curriculum reform; and this process of continuous improvement will also ensure that our achievements are well documented and recognized.

• International accreditation will enhance the value of the SFU degree for alumni abroad.

• Accreditation will simplify our relationships with US institutions including collegiate sports.

I.

3. NWCCU (http://www.nwccu.org )

Established in 1952 the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU) is an independent, non-profit membership organization recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) as the regional authority on educational quality and institutional effectiveness of higher education institutions. The NWCCU is one of six regional organizations, and services the seven-state Northwest region of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington. It fulfills its mission by establishing accreditation criteria and evaluation procedures by which institutions are reviewed.

The Commission oversees regional accreditation for 163 institutions. The figure below shows a few doctorial universities that are accredited by the NWCCU. The full list is available on their web site.

Some NWCCU Accredited 'D' Universities & Date of Accreditation

Boise State (1941) Brigham Young (1923) Eastern Washington (1919) Idaho State (1918) Pacific (1929) Portland State (1955) Seattle Pacific (1933) Seattle (1935) Montana (1932)

AlaskaFairbanks, (1934) Idaho, (1918) Nevada, (1938) Oregon, (1918) Washington State (1918) Washington (1918) Portland, (1931) Utah, (1933) Utah State (1924)

Its decision-making body consists of up to twenty-six Commissioners who represent the public and the diversity of higher education institutions within the Northwest region.

4. The Accreditation Process

Institutional accreditation applies to the institution as a whole, not individual programmes or units within their organization. Accredited institutions are distinguished by their demonstrated ability to meet broadly accepted higher education standards of quality. The value of accreditation is not limited to quality assurance alone; it also fosters public confidence in the institution's ability to fulfill its stated mission and goals.

The full accreditation process will take between 5 and 7 years to complete. SFU is currently classified as an 'Applicant'. Once SFU conducts a very detailed Self Study detailing how its policies, procedures and practice relate to the standards prescribed by

2.

the NWCCU and hosts a site visit from an evaluation committee of senior administrator and academic peers from US institutions, SFU will be granted 'Candidate' status. During the 'Candidacy' period, which usually lasts 3 years, annual reports need to be submitted to NWCCU and further site visits from the evaluation committee occur every 18 months. Thereafter SFU will be 'Accredited'. To maintain the accreditation status a full reaccreditation process is followed over a 7 year cycle with regular reporting and site visit evaluations.

Annual reports will be made to Senate and the Board of Governors of the progress being made to full accreditation.

Note: Currently the standards and process for evaluation and accreditation are under review and should be finalized within a few months. The proposed new standards are attached.

5. Accreditation Costs

The Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities determines annual dues for Candidate and Accredited institutions based upon total educational and general expenditures and mandatory transfers (exclusive of medical school and hospital budgets) for the previous academic year. Based on their dues schedule SFU's annual

. dues would be $13,600(US).

For institutions being evaluated, such as SFU currently, a fee structure is in place which would total $22,000 (US) up until initial Accreditation is achieved. Added to these fees would be the costs associated with the various site visits by the evaluation committee and any internal SFU administrative expenses which may be incurred in the management of this process and the preparation of the Self Study.

All costs incurred to obtain accreditation will be funded from FIC revenues.

6. Immediate Next Steps

SFU will be hosting the Executive Vice President of the NWCCU on December 2, 2009 when he will meet with the President, Vice Presidents, Deans, Chairs and Directors to further explain the accreditation process and answer any questions we may have.

Shortly a project will be established to prepare the Self Study which we anticipate completing within 12 - 18 months. We would then host the site visit from the evaluation committee.

.

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