First lap of the race to reaccreditation complete

 

(Sept. 19, 2019) -- UTSA has completed its first lap in the race to reaccreditation. On August 29, 2019, UTSA’s submitted its self-study, called the Compliance Certification Report, to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) for review completing a major milestone in the university’s 10-year reaccreditation process. The report took two years to compile and includes detailed narratives describing UTSA’s programs, services and processes, as well as documentation and data to support the narratives.

“This is an exciting first step in this important peer review opportunity,” said Kasey Neece-Fielder, associate vice provost for Strategic Planning and Assessment. “Accreditation is critical to UTSA because it is important to the success of our students. It is all about continuous improvement of the University and its processes to support students in achieving excellence.”

UTSA is accredited by SACSCOC, which enables the university to be eligible to receive federal financial aid. After institutions receive initial accreditation, they are reevaluated every ten years for “Reaffirmation of Accreditation.” At UTSA, the initiative driving the decennial review—nicknamed the Race to Reaccreditation 2020–is being led by the Office of Continuous Improvement and Accreditation under the guidance of Neece-Fielder and Lorrie Smith, Director of Accreditation and Process Improvement.

Universities that go through the accreditation process have the opportunity to thoroughly examine their programs and services and receive valuable feedback from peers. Meeting or exceeding established standards set by the SACSCOC can help the institution with its student success and educational excellence goals.

Although the first big lap is complete, much of UTSA’s race to reaccreditation is still to come. Over the next few months, an off-site team of higher education professionals will review the report and provide feedback in November. UTSA will respond to that feedback and prepare for an on-site review by a separate team of peer reviewers, which will take place March 16-19, 2020.

The last step in the process will be a review by the SACSCOC Board of Trustees expected in December, 2020.

— Kasey Neece-Fielder

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