Accreditation Working Group

Accreditation is a voluntary process pursued by institutions and educational programs to demonstrate that important education criteria are being met or exceeded. Accreditation is attained regionally in the United States and conferred by non-governmental agencies. While we need not, and should not, think of our scope as contained to the United States, it probably is most sensible to seek accreditation from a regional U.S. accrediting agency as most countries outside the United States rely more upon governmental supervision and assessment of schools and universities and would probably be unable to grant any assessment of our institute.

While attaining accreditation should be viewed as a watershed event for us, it is something that, realistically, we must be prepared to patiently pursue over a good number of years. Accreditation will enable our future students and graduates to rely upon their Free University diplomas with the same assurance that they would have from more traditional schools. It will not be easy. As defined by the NEASC Commission on Institutions of Higher Education, the eleven Standards for Accreditation seeks to determine if the institution:

"Has a clearly defined purposes appropriate to an institution of higher learning"
"Has assembled and organized those resources necessary to achieve its purposes"
"Is achieving its purposes"
"Has the ability to continue to achieve its purposes"

The actual eleven standards are:

Mission and Purposes
Planning and Evaluation
Organization and Governance
Programs and Instruction
Faculty
Student Services
Library and Information Services
Physical Resources
Financial Resources
Public Disclosure
Integrity

Current members:

None

Important references:

Accreditation FAQ at getEducated.com
An Overview of Accreditation
Role and Value of Accreditation
Standards for Accreditation
Process of Accreditation
Regional Accrediting Associations (Colleges and Universities):
Council for Higher Education Accreditation
Office of Postsecondary Education of the U.S. Department of Education
The Distance Education and Training Council specifically focuses on accrediting distance study and print-based correspondence courses.