Higher Learning Commission

The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) is a regional accreditor in the United States. It accredits post-secondary education institutions in the central United States: Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. The headquarters of the organization is in Chicago, Illinois.

Higher Learning Commission
HLC operating area
AbbreviationHLC
PredecessorNorth Central Association of Colleges and Schools
Formation1895
PurposeHigher education accreditation
HeadquartersChicago, Illinois
Region served
Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming
Main organ
Board of Directors
AffiliationsCHEA
Websitehlcommission.org

The United States Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation recognize the commission as the assigned regional accrediting organization.[1][2] HLC grew out of the higher education division of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA). The NCA dissolved in 2014.[3]

Criteria for accreditation

The Higher Learning Commission has five major criteria for accreditation.[4] They are: (1) Mission, (2) Ethics, (3) Teaching and Learning: Quality, Resources, and Support, (4) Teaching and Learning: Evaluation and Improvement, and (5) Resources, Planning, and Institutional Effectiveness.

Criticism

In 2009, the Office of the Inspector General of the US Department of Education (OIG-ED) criticized the Higher Learning Commission's oversight of for-profit colleges and recommended that the agency consider "limiting, suspending, or terminating the organization's status."[5] Although the OIG reaffirmed their recommendation that the department consider sanctions for the HLC the following year, adding critical reviews of HLC's accreditation of American InterContinental University and The Art Institute of Colorado[6], the Department of Education did not withdraw or limit HLC's accreditation authority. Six years later in 2015, the OIG-ED again criticized HLC this time with an audit on the review process the HLC used while considering colleges' proposals for competency-based credentials.[7]

See also
  • AdvancED (accrediting agency for primary and secondary schools that evolved from the NCA).

References
  1. "Accreditation in the United States: regional and national institutional accrediting agencies". United States Department of Education. Archived from the original on February 4, 2019. Retrieved February 4, 2019.
  2. "Regional accrediting organizations 2009-2010". Council for Higher Education Accreditation. Archived from the original on August 31, 2009. Retrieved November 1, 2009.
  3. "About the Higher Learning Commission". Higher Learning Commission. Archived from the original on February 4, 2019. Retrieved February 4, 2019.
  4. "Criteria for accreditation" (PDF). Higher Learning Commission (Alpha revision ed.). March 2018. Archived (PDF) from the original on February 4, 2019. Retrieved February 4, 2019.
  5. Kelderman, Eric (December 17, 2009). "Inspector General warns accreditor over online college, raising fears among for-profit institutions". Government. Chronicle of Higher Education. Archived from the original on October 8, 2018. Retrieved February 4, 2019.
  6. Kelderman, Eric (May 27, 2010). "Inspector General keeps the pressure on a regional accreditor". Government. Chronicle of Higher Education. Archived from the original on October 8, 2018. Retrieved February 4, 2019.
  7. Fain, Paul (October 5, 2015). "Caution on competency". Assessment and Accountability. Inside Higher Ed. Archived from the original on February 4, 2019. Retrieved February 4, 2019.


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