Institutional Accreditation Guidelines
To: Chief Executive Officers of Higher Education Institutions
Accredited by the Board
of Regents and the Commissioner of Education
From: Johanna Duncan-Poitier
Deputy Commissioner, Office
of Higher Education and Office of the Professions
Subject: Amendments to the Board of Regents Standards and Procedures
for
Institutional Accreditation
Last November, I shared with you amendments to our standards and procedures for institutional accreditation (Subpart 4-1 of the Rules of the Board of Regents) resulting from a comprehensive four-year self-study of the Regents accreditation standards and procedures to ensure that the education provided by accredited institutions is high quality and relevant to the educational or training needs of their students.
Many of you assisted us in that process and have provided us with valuable feedback on the amendments. I want to thank you for the significant time and effort so many of you spent participating in our annual Regents Colloquia on Institutional Accreditation, responding to questionnaires, and giving us your best advice on possible changes to the standards and procedures.
I am pleased to inform you that, on February 13, 2007, the Board of Regents adopted these amendments. They will become effective as of March 8, 2007. The amendments will affect institutions undergoing peer review visits beginning in the fall of 2008 or starting institutional accreditation self-studies after March 8th. To help us appropriately implement the new amendments, we ask that you please contact Joseph P. Frey, Assistant Commissioner for the Office of Quality Assurance, at (518) 486-3633 or via E-mail to jfrey@mail.nysed.gov, to inform him as to whether or not your institution has begun a current self-study for institutional accreditation by the Board of Regents prior to March 8th.
The full text of the amendment is available on the Department’s Web site at:
http://www.regents.nysed.gov/2007Meetings/February2007/0207heppa6.htm. If you have any questions about the amendments or the accreditation process, please feel free to contact Assistant Commissioner Frey at the phone number or E-mail address above. Thank you again for your contributions to these enhancements to our institutional accreditation standards and procedures.