Where is MSCC in the Accreditation Process?
We have been working now for 3 years on assessing the college's institutional effectiveness as part of the accreditation process and are now at a pivotal moment. We completed what is called among accrediting institutions a "Self-Study," a comprehensive analysis of every aspect of the college including its mission and goals, assessment and planning, institutional integrity, authority and government, administration, resources, enrollment management, student services, faculty resources, library, and academic programs. The documentation for this study was submitted to the Association for Biblical Higher Education (ABHE) November 15, 2008. We now await the annual meeting of the ABHE to be held in Orlando, FL, in February where we will be informed of the accreditation committee's decision.
At this point, we face 3 possible scenarios:
- The ABHE grants us Candidate Status.
- The ABHE considers that we have not yet demonstrated that we have realistic plans for overcoming some major issues and, therefore, gives us another year to make enough progress on a focused agenda of issues to make the award of candidacy feasible.
- The ABHE sees MSCC as so far behind in our progress that they deny outright our accreditation, in which case we would have to wait another 5 years to re-initiate the process.
Whichever the outcome, the process itself has been tremendously positive, giving MSCC administrators the information needed to make the college a better institution.