It is hard to believe that the time has passed so quickly, but we are anticipating our Self Study team in October. Preparations, in earnest, are an 18 month process, but pre-planning encompasses at least another year.
Every college that is regionally accredited goes through the review process. Until recently, this was a five to ten year window, with periodic check-ins in between. CW is accredited by The Middle States Commission on Higher Education, since 2003. Other institutions are listed here.
The Self-Study process is important to all of us because it helps maintain excellence in higher education.
The Self-Study process itself involves many individuals across the college including administration, staff, faculty, students, employers and graduates. We are tasked to review ourselves in light of Seven Standards of Accreditation, and include (1) Mission and Goals, (2) Ethics and Integrity, (3) Design and Delivery of the Student Learning Experience, (4) Support of the Student Experience, (5) Educational Effectiveness Assessment, (6) Planning, Resources and Institutional Improvement and (7) Governance, Leadership and Administration, as well as a separate compliance assessment.
A Steering Committee, made up of individuals at our college, was formed over 18 months ago, which helped guide the initial Self Study Design Document. This document was submitted, approved by MSCHE, and, subsequently, working groups were formulated to guide the research and data gathering for the actual Self Study discovery document.
Suffice it to say that we are delighted that the document was received, a chair and team of trained higher education professionals was gathered by MSCHE. Their task is to review the Self Study document, and visit the college to assess that we do what we say we do, and if what we do is sufficient in these areas stated above. We are grateful for their service both to Middle States and to The College of Westchester and our students.
At this point, the visit will be taking place shortly. Everyone at CW is looking forward to a successful visit, and to engaging with the team. We will look forward to reporting results when we receive the team report.