During the February 2017 Commission meeting, the Compliance Audit Policy and the Cooperation Among Accrediting Agencies Policy were retired, and Institutions within a System Policy was revised. 

The Compliance Audit Policy was developed under the old Capacity and Preparatory Review (CPR) and Educational Effectiveness Review (EER) model described in the 2001 Handbook of Accreditation. At that time, a Compliance Audit Checklist was separately available to determine an institution’s compliance with the Standards. Under the 2013 Handbook of Accreditation, compliance with the Standards is automatically reviewed as part of Component 2 (“Compliance with the Standards and Federal Requirements”). As a result, this policy and the Compliance Checklist are no longer needed or used. WSCUC staff reviewed the Code of Federal Regulations (34 CFR Part 602) and confirmed that a Compliance Audit Policy is not required by the Code.

The Cooperation Among Accrediting Agencies Policy is of unknown origin. It focuses mostly on conducting joint reviews, something that WSCUC has not undertaken for at least eight years. Joint reviews are no longer conducted because of the difficulties encountered in doing so, given different procedures and timelines in different agencies, and there are no federal regulations mandating such a policy.

The committee discussed the Institutions within a System Policy and concluded that it was misnamed since it addresses only accreditation reviews for institutions within a system. The Accreditation Policy & Planning Committee recommended that the policy be renamed as Accreditation Reviews for Institutions within a System to reflect its focus.

Staff Contact: Barbara Gross Davis