Higher education is in the midst of change, with many schools under pressure to recruit and graduate more students, all in a timelier fashion and with streamlined budgets. At the same time, public funding for institutions of higher education is in a state of decline, creating a high-stakes situation for schools across the country.
“We’re in a world in higher education where the pressure is on,” said Dr. Mark Milliron, co-founder and chief learning officer of Civitas Learning. “Expectations are higher, and people are now turning on the lights with new kinds of data that are really in some ways challenging long-held assumptions.”
Milliron was speaking at a panel on accreditation at the annual Society for College and University Planning (SCUP) conference on Monday.
Accrediting agencies, the organizations tasked with ensuring institutional compliance with federal regulations, occupy a unique space in the higher education landscape as the intermediaries between the federal government and schools. As colleges and universities evolve with the times, accreditation is sometimes seen as a constraining factor in terms of their ability to innovate.
Yet innovation and accreditation do not have to be at odds, Dr. Barbara Gellman-Danley, president of the Higher Learning Commission (HLC), said at Monday’s panel. Instead, accreditation can be a catalyst for innovation — albeit with a few caveats.
“Innovation for innovation’s sake is not what I’m talking about,” Gellman-Danley said. “Innovation for the purpose of actually moving … a planned, strategic, comprehensive agenda forward is very possible.”
The panel featured Gellman-Danley, along with Dr. Belle S. Wheelan, president of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS); and Dr. Elizbeth H. Sibolskai, president of the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE). Collectively, SACS, HLC and MSCHE represent a wide range of institutions across the United States, from community and tribal colleges to private schools.
