Wednesday, February 20, 2008

HLC-NCA Accreditation Visit for the College of Health Sciences

On March 10-12, a Visiting Evaluation Team from the Higher Learning Commission-North Central Association of Colleges and Schools will be visiting with faculty, students, administration, community members, alumni, and the Board of Trustees of the BryanLGH College of Health Sciences. This comprehensive evaluation visit will be among final steps in the College’s efforts to achieve regional accreditation with the North Central Association.

HLC tips for students:
1)The College's General Education program began in 2006. Today, the College offers approximately 30 General Education courses onsite to support students pursuing their Nursing and Allied Health degrees.

2) The five General Education subject areas at the College are: Communications, Humanities/Fine Arts, Mathematics/Economics, Natural Sciences, and Social Sciences.

3)"Specialized accreditation" is accreditation given to a particular program - e.g. Nursing or Cardiovascular Technology. Accreditation through the HLC provides accreditation to the entire College.

4) The College of Health Sciences currently hold Candidacy status with the Higher Learning Commission. This March, the College will host a site visit as part of its application to receive Initial Accreditation. Initial Accreditation will mean that the College is fully accredited.

5) With receipt of Candidacy status, the College became "affilated" with the Higher Learning Commission and eligible to offer Federal Financial Aid to all degree-seeking students that qualify.

6) The accreditation process is approximately ten years in length and requires graduating a full cohort of students from the new program(s) before an application for initial accreditation can even be considered.

If you have questions or comments about the upcoming visit, please contact Dr. Elizabeth MacLeod Walls, Director of Institutional Effectiveness, at x18781 or elizabeth.walls@bryanlgh.org.