Professional education in the United States is evaluated and accredited by independent commissions recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA).
image credit: Unsplash
Study in USA: Professional Education
The majority of these commissions are also recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Postsecondary Education (Division of Eligibility and Agency Evaluation). Nonregionally accredited, freestanding, independent schools that have specialized accreditation are briefly described in this section.
Information on these schools can be obtained by contacting the accrediting agency at the address given. Most commissions accredit their members through a process involving several steps. Before achieving full accreditation, applicant institutions are awarded prior status, which may be called by various names and carries different meanings: for example, some agencies call their candidates for accreditation "preaccredited," some say they are "provisionally accredited," some are "probationary," and some are accredited for a “reduced term”, depending on the results of an evaluatory visit.
The applying institutions or programs may or may not have been operating professional offerings and may or may not have graduated a class. For some agencies, candidate members almost always automatically become fully accredited; for others, candidacy brings tentative accreditation. Because of these inconsistencies, Part II of American Universities and Colleges lists only fully accredited, degree-granting institutions and programs.
image credit: Unsplash
REGIONAL ACCREDITING AGENCIES
Eight accrediting commissions operate in six distinct regions of the United States: New England, Middle States, North Central, Southern, Western, and Northwest. These regional commissions accredit entire institutions, as opposed to programs within institutions. A ninth commission, the Interregional Accrediting Committee, is controlled by four regional commissions and exists to accredit a single institution: Western Governor’s University in Utah.
image credit: Unsplash
Interregional Accrediting Committee (IRAC)
IRAC was created by four regional accrediting commissions: the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities; the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges; the Northwestern Commission on Colleges and Universities; and the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, Higher Learning Commission. IRAC’s membership consists of three commissioners from each region and the executive directors of each participating commission. IRAC is administered through the Northwestern Commission on Colleges and Universities.
