Accreditation in the United States
The United States has no Federal Ministry of Education or other centralized authority exercising single national control over post secondary educational institutions in this country. The States assume varying degrees of control over education, but, in general, institutions of higher education are permitted to operate with considerable independence and autonomy. *
In order to insure a basic level of quality, the practice of accreditation arose in the United States as a means of conducting non-governmental, peer evaluation of educational institutions and programs. Private educational associations of regional or national scope have adopted criteria reflecting the qualities of a sound educational program and have developed procedures for evaluating institutions or programs to determine whether or not they are operating at basic levels of quality. *
Some Functions of Accreditation:
- 1. Verifying that an institution or program meets established standards.
- 2. Assisting prospective students in identifying acceptable institutions.
- 3. Assisting institutions in determining the acceptability of transfer credits.
- 4. Protecting an institution against harmful internal and external pressure.
- 5. Establishing criteria for professional certification and licensure and for upgrading courses offering such preparation. *
* Excerpts from the United States Department of Education, Office of Post Secondary Education web site.
Department of Education Accreditation
All accrediting agencies in the United States are nonprofit private associations. However, some accrediting agencies, without being government agencies, have sought and received approval from the US department of Education, mainly for the purpose of administering Federal financial aid dollars. This type of accreditation normally takes years to achieve and can be very expensive.
Again, this is a voluntary, peer review process.