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Accreditation Documents

The purpose of these documents is to describe the ATHEA accreditation process for conducting accreditation.  The ATHEA Standards for Accreditation provide the basis for evaluating institutions, as well as the internal and external quality assurance of the organisation. The Accreditation Process Manual provides the basis for evaluating institutions relative to determining accreditation.

The following documents guide and support the Accreditation Process:

  1. ATHEA Standards for Accreditation
  2. ATHEA Accreditation Process Manual
  3. ATHEA Accreditation and Candidacy Template – Self-Study (Available for Institutional Members)
  4. ATHEA Board of Commissioners Manual
  5. Site Visit Report Template

Site Visits

A site visit is a comprehensive, on-campus review of the institution’s programmes and operations in response to the institution’s request for institutional candidacy or accreditation. The site visit includes evaluation of the institution’s candidacy application or self-evaluation by an ATHEA site visit team.

For a candidacy application, the site visit will normally be conducted by the ATHEA Executive Director. For an accreditation self-evaluation visit, the team will consist of professionally trained peer reviewers and students.

Candidacy site-visits are scheduled individually following candidacy application submission by Institutional Members.

After the institution submits its self-evaluation, the ATHEA Board of Commissioners will designate a team of at least four professionally-trained peer reviewers, including one student, to conduct the site visit. The ATHEA Board of Commissioners selects site visit team members from a pool of well-qualified individuals with experience in the evaluation process and in higher education institutional operations.

The size of the team and the qualifications of its members are influenced by the institutions’ size, complexity, and the number of locations. For institutions that offer programmes of that are taught in a language other than English, at least one member of the site visit team will be fluent in the language of instruction.

The ATHEA Board of Commissioners is committed to avoiding potential conflicts of interest by site visit team members.

Submitting Accreditation-related Documents

Members will be required to submit various documents depending upon the institution’s accreditation schedule. Such documents include candidacy application, self-evaluation, report, and change reports. All document submissions are confidential. Unless otherwise specified, documents should be submitted in PDF format.

Accreditation documents will be submitted by e-mail and will be routed internally to the appropriate ATHEA Board of Commissioners’ representative.

Submitting Membership Reports

All institutional members of ATHEA agree to abide by the accreditation policies and procedures of ATHEA. The institution will keep ATHEA fully informed of its activities.

Any activity or change within the institution and/or the institution that materially alters the status of the faculty, the curricula, the resources in support of the institution, or other issues that might affect its compliance with the Accreditation Standards and Expectations must be reported to ATHEA.

Report due annually prior to February 15th or within 30 days of a material change:
Member Update Report

Peer Review and Site Visits

After the institution submits its self-evaluation, the ATHEA Board of Commissioners will designate a team of professionally-trained peer reviewers, including one student, to conduct the site visit. The ATHEA Board of Commissioners selects site visit team members from a pool of well-qualified individuals with experience in the evaluation process and in higher education institutional operations.

The Chair of the team will be responsible for assuring that the site visit is conducted objectively. The size of the team and the qualifications of its members are influenced by the institutions’ size, complexity, and number of locations. For institutions that offer programmes of that are taught in a language other than English, at least one member of the site visit team will be fluent in the language of instruction.

The ATHEA Board of Commissioners is committed to avoiding potential conflicts of interest by site visit team members. The following guidelines will be used to determine site visit team composition:

  • No member of the site visit team will have had a recent affiliation with the institution that is being considered for accreditation, nor will the members of the site visit team have relatives who are employees of the institution.
  • No member of the site visit team will be a graduate of the institution that is being considered for accreditation.
  • No member of the site visit team will have a known, expressed bias for or against the institution.
  • No member of the site visit team will currently be a full-time employee of another institution in the institution’s primary competitive market

Actions

Regarding Candidacy, possible Board of Commissioners’ actions include Candidacy Granted, Action on Candidacy Deferred, or Candidacy Denied. Regarding initial accreditation, possible Board of Commissioners’ actions include Accreditation Granted, Action on Accreditation Deferred, or Accreditation Denied. Regarding changes in accreditation actions, possible Board of Commissioners’ actions include Probation, Withdrawal of Accreditation, Voluntary Withdrawal, or Reaffirmation of Accreditation.

Non-Compliance Disclosure Statements

The ATHEA Board of Commissioners is the independent accreditation decision-making body of ATHEA and is elected by the organisation’s membership in accordance with the ATHEA bylaws. The Commissioners review and evaluate requests for accreditation, and determine the accreditation status of all ATHEA institution members. The ATHEA Board of Commissioners is required to post all non-compliance disclosures associated with accreditation and candidacy. Please refer to the ATHEA Accreditation Process Manual for more information concerning such actions. Currently, there are no non-compliance disclosure statements to post.

In order to make informed educational decisions, various stakeholders of the institution, including current and potential students and their families, employers, governmental entities, and other members of the public who may have an interest in the institution, are entitled to have access to information pertaining to the quality of the programmes of the institution. Consequently, the ATHEA requires its accredited members to be accountable to the public for student learning outcomes in their programmes.

Therefore, before first-time accreditation can be granted by the ATHEA and subsequent to the granting of accreditation, an institution must publicly disclose information pertaining to the degree of student learning in its accredited programmes. In addition, the institution must indicate in its catalogue the ways in which the public may access this information. At a minimum, the institution must make student achievement data available on the institution’s website, but it should also make this information available in hard-copy form should it be requested by any member of the public.