The most important characteristic of quality for an educational institution is the status of its accreditation. Regional accreditation is taken for granted by the consumers of higher education, i.e. the students, but it happens only when an institution has met a set of external standards agreed upon by the governing body of a regional accrediting agency. The United States is divided into several regions, and the one that governs accreditation of the southern states is known as the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
Accreditation is achieved as a result of careful and thorough examination of the educational quality of an institution. This examination takes place on several levels, beginning with the collective professional judgment of faculty and administrative staff of the institution during a two-year or longer self-examination process known as a self-study. This self-study process in which Coastal Georgia Community College has critiqued itself with the intent of becoming a stronger and more effective institution began in Fall 1998 as a number of committees were designated with specific areas of responsibility.
This process, which has taken more than two years, has resulted in several findings by the self-study committees that have brought positive change and will in the future bring even more positive change to the institution. Institutional improvement is a bit like seeking the Holy Grail in that it is a never-ending quest to make our best practices better and our weaker practices stronger! Although we have studied ourselves and made critical judgements and have made improvements, the next step in assuring quality comes when an external group of evaluators from peer institutions throughout the South (with none from Georgia) will visit the campus March 12-15. These evaluators come from institutions much like Coastal Georgia Community College, and they are very well prepared in the application of the Criteria for Accreditation that will guide their work on our campus. They will apply their collective professional judgment NOT just in seeing that we comply with the Criteria for Accreditation but in providing a level of quality assurance in the process of assessing readiness of the College for reaffirmation of accreditation.
This quality-assurance process reassures the public that Coastal Georgia Community College is operating in accordance with the Criteria for Accreditation and, therefore, a high level of confidence can be placed in this College. For the long term, it means that the credits earned by students in college transfer courses are indeed transferable because the instruction has been conducted with appropriately qualified faculty and has been delivered at a collegiate level. Therefore, other colleges can be assured that the credits earned at this College are acceptable in transfer.
Another major value that accrues as a result of an institution�s holding accreditation by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools is that only accredited colleges can participate in the federal financial aid programs, such as the PELL grant and the Guaranteed Student Loan programs. The United States Department of Education requires that an institution be accredited in order to participate in disbursing funds to students under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended in 1998. Therefore, in order for this College to assist students with financial aid, accreditation is essential.
When the Visiting Team comes to the CGCC campus in March, they will accredit the TOTAL institution. This means that they will delve extensively into the total institution, including the areas of Student Services; of Academic Affairs, including Academic Support Services; of Library Services; of Institutional Planning and Evaluation Processes that are known collectively as Institutional Effectiveness; of the Administration, including Business and Financial Affairs, the physical facilities, public safety, as well as the overall organization of the institution. Team members will ask questions of faculty, staff, and students.
Team members generally want to gain student perceptions of the College. Students should be prepared to have the visitors talk with them about a variety of topics that might include student access to faculty during office hours, their satisfaction with the library's services, student services provided, their major area of study, and so on. The entire campus population is encouraged to be very open and honest in responding to any and all questions posed by the Visiting Team members.
When the visitors depart from the campus on March 15, the campus community is invited, as available, to assemble at 9:00 a.m. in the Terrill Thomas Auditorium in the Southeast Georgia Conference Center to hear the Visiting Team's findings. This will be merely an indication of the Committee's specific findings in relationship to the Criteria, and following that report no response will be made by the College. Later, when the Committee's written report comes to the campus, any errors of fact will be corrected by the College. A response to the findings will be made that will identify specific actions already completed or underway to address any deficiencies. In December 2001, at the annual meeting of the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, Coastal Georgia Community College will learn if accreditation will be reaffirmed for another ten years.
One of the greatest strengths of American higher education is the voluntary participation by institutions in accreditation activities. This is not a process imposed by government but a process freely embraced by a voluntary association of peer institutions who collectively assure a high level of quality in the delivery of educational services across the South. Coastal Georgia Community College is proud to uphold the high level of quality characteristic of the colleges and universities across the South that are accredited by the Commission on Colleges.
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