News Highlights

Minnesota State Mankato prepares for accreditation review next month

Learning Commission team will visit

The countdown to accreditation review is ticking, and Minnesota State Mankato is prepared for it.

2006-04-09
By Robb Murray, Free Press staff writer [published in The Free Press, Mankato, MN, 1/26/2006]

MANKATO — Millions of dollars are at stake, as is the reputation of Minnesota State University as it faces its first accreditation test in 10 years.

And for the dozens of people who have spent thousands of hours over the past two, three or even four years on it, accreditation is anything but a benign, foreign or unimportant topic.

In the world of higher education, nothing is more important than accreditation. Federal dollars and reputation aside, the university also will in a few years be faced with a very competitive environment as colleges scramble for shrinking numbers of high school students.

All colleges and universities must go through the accreditation process. About once every 10 years, committees form and set about the task of proving to the accrediting body that they deserve the official thumbs up.

At MSU, English professor Donald Larsson and library dean Joan Roca have led the efforts to comply with the criteria outlined by the Higher Learning Commission. The HLC is the arm of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools that accredits more than 1,100 institutions.

In general, accreditation is about quality control. The seal of approval from the HLC, MSU officials say, says an institution meets high standards in terms of faculty to student ratios, faculty training, educational outcomes, facility use and dozens of other areas.

"You as a taxpayer can go and look at how an institution uses their money," Roca said.

The accreditation process culminates with a campus visit by a team of HLC officials. During their three-day visit, they'll meet with committee members and students and assess the university's attempt to address a set of five criteria: mission and integrity; preparing for the future; student learning and effective teaching; acquisition, discovery and application of knowledge; and engagement and service.

Federal education funding is contingent on accreditation. Any school not accredited simply is not eligible. In MSU's case, that affects everything from operating budget to financial aid to students. That's what makes the process so important.

And this isn't a routine accreditation. A lot has happened since the last full accreditation process in 1996.

MSU has a new president. They've switched to semesters. They've revamped their general education program. Culled 43 programs from their offerings. Announced plans to tear down Gage towers and build new student housing. There is a new student union, a new Taylor Center and student recreation center. Enrollment is way up. Doctoral programs are coming. They'll soon be operating one of a handful of "Centers of Excellence" around the state.

That last visit, in fact, resulted in the HLC pointing out some areas of concern that they followed up on a few years later. At their midpoint checkup, the areas of concern — which included the university's internal governance, long-range planning, reformation of its general education program, assessment of learning outcomes and faculty development — had been rectified.

Larsson said they fully expect that, by the time the HLC campus visit team leaves, they'll give MSU a thumbs up on accreditation. He also says the process, while painstaking, gives the university an opportunity to look in the mirror.

"It gives the university the opportunity to take a good, long look at itself and say, 'How do we stack up to these standards?'"

The changing face of higher education has prompted changes to the accrediting process.

Years ago, it was about how many books a university had in its library or how many faculty members had Ph.D.s. But in era of online education and with the proliferation of for-profit schools, accreditation has acquired tougher standards.

Which isn't to say for-profit schools are inferior. Indeed, many for-profit colleges, including Rasmussen College and the University of Phoenix — the popular online-only institution — have sought and obtained accreditation.

"Any federal funds would be difficult, if not impossible, to get without accreditation," Larsson said.

As an example of how highly anticipated the HLC campus visit is can be seen on the MSU Web site. Visit mnsu.edu and click on "accreditation self study." There you can find the full 276-page report, and a countdown clock ticking away the seconds until Feb. 23.

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