Peer-review accreditation process to begin

Assessments completed, drafts written, and now, this summer, members of the University of Cincinnati's accreditation self-study steering committee will begin assembling their final report.

Accreditation is voluntary, but required in order for colleges and universities to receive federal financial aid. Done every 10 years, accreditation is generally determined by representatives from outside organizations, in UC's case, the Higher Learning Commission, a non-governmental organization that uses peer-review as its primary method for accreditation.

UC is taking the position, according to Lawrence Johnson, dean of the College of Education, Criminal Justice and Human Services and Ralph Katerberg, associate professor at the College of Business, co-chairs of the steering committee, that the accreditation process is an opportunity for UC to both put its best foot forward and draw attention to specific areas needing improvement.

Katerberg said the accreditation process works off of five keys area, areas that are integral as well to the annual UC|21 report card: mission (what's the school about?), preparation for the future, student learning and effective teaching (are we doing good stuff, are we teaching the right curriculum, is our faculty current and have the students learned anything that we can measure quantitatively?), acquisition, discovery and application of knowledge (does research happen here and do students engage in research? Is there preparation for lifelong learning?), and engagement and service (does the university have a healthy relationship with and contribute to its community?).

The final report is due to be completed in January 2009, and in April 2009, UC is scheduled to host a team of educators from HLC who will evaluate UC's self-study and ultimately determine re-accreditation.

Katerberg said the group will issue their findings as to how they see UC.

"It could be 'Their self-study is fallacious, blowing smoke and we don't believe a word of it, or it may be this is the real thing,'" Katerberg said.

"And for the panel to come to a positive conclusion, it's important that we acknowledge we have some areas that need improvement," Katerberg continued.

One of the university's biggest challenges is finance.

"We had big budget cuts. You can't hide that stuff," Katerberg said, "It's all pretty public."

"Part of the picture we're painting is why - why we have some financial challenges is maybe by hook or by crook we got a little overextended in rebuilding the campus," he said. "Now we have to unfold why and how the university is handling these things."

Katerberg insists that many schools have similar problems.

One method the university will use to improve financial standing going forward is a program of performance-based budgeting. This program will allow programs that are growing to secure additional financial support.

The downside of the program, however, is that some programs, shrinking programs with only a handful of students, may be eliminated.

Johnson hopes growth in other programs may offset the poor performance of such programs.

"You have to have certain things in a university," he said.

Some of the strengths likely to be outlined in the self-study include the university's research enterprise and community engagement.

Community engagement was one area that was called out for improvement and better coordination as a result of the last re-accreditation. General education standards have also improved over the last 10 years, according to Johnson.

"Students are happy, student satisfaction is up, enrollment is up, quality of the students we are getting is up, our research enterprise is up and our national ranking has increased," he said. "We've rebuilt [the campus] and now we are rebuilding what goes inside the campus. The university is in a very different place than where it was."

Johnson and Katerberg also addressed how the potential conversion to semesters will impact the re-accreditation process.

"It's another indication that we are coming to the 21st century," Johnson said. "There are only about 20 percent of universities left on quarters and it makes it more difficult for students to transfer back, between, and across universities. So this is another indication that we are moving forward."

All of the work being done now is to ensure a high quality education for students and that students will be assured that a degree from UC is going to be highly valued in the job market, Johnson said.

"It's very easy for all of us to sit around and say how good we are, but when you allow yourself to be examined by the outside and they come and say this is a high quality institution, that's an assurance that students have that we are being good stewards of their educations."