Accreditation Philosophy
"Accreditation is a positive process"
Accreditation is a non-governmental process for assessment of educational programs against rigorous education and industry standards. It provides evidence that the program meets or exceeds the challenges of continuous improvement such as: technological change, stimulating curriculum development and ongoing reviews of internal processes.
The Culture of Excellence Today
In today’s global society all the way from K-12 to Higher Education and all the way through to business organizations, we as a society are challenged to be more competitive. Our educational systems and our business environments are called to be more vigilant in each their self-reflections, self–studies, and self-evaluations and we must establish and meet goals that keep us in the forefront as leaders in education and business.
Together, with the network and through a continuous improvement process, your institution or business organization will set goals, evaluate progress and meet any challenges that lie ahead of you. Accreditation is a positive vehicle by examining your process by which you will gain valuable insight into the strengths and weaknesses. At The Expert Knowledge Network we will walk that continuous improvement path with you.
The Role of Accreditation in Business
As a business executive you may have never thought of your business in terms of accreditation. Six Sigma, Lean, JD Powers, ISO 9000, Baldrige Awards and all forms of awards and standards bodies provide validation against a set of standards of excellence. Law enforcement goes through CALEA, the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc.; Health Care businesses go through JCAHO, Joint Commission on Accreditation for Heath Care Organizations. While specialized accreditation agencies create standards that apply only to certain industry segments, some criteria are universally applicable to all businesses, as for example, six sigma and Baldrige. While much of the language that we use to talk about accreditation services refers to the academic world, the application of the processes and standards applies to the business world as well. We provide accreditation services for both businesses and academe.
The Objectives of Accreditation
I. An auditing mechanism that is independent of the educational system
II. Assures the educational community and the general public that a program has clearly defined appropriate objectives and is meeting them
III. Ensures that a program reflects correct technical practices and educational methodologies
IV. Promotes portability of qualifications through the provision of national and provincial accredited educational programs
V. Maintains a registry of accredited programs
VI. Stimulates curriculum development
Accreditation Services
We provide a single go to point to reach out to any accreditation organization that touches your institution or business. Initial consultations can direct you to the resources and people with whom you need to collaborate. We also support a standard consultation process that includes reports with actionable items and a follow up process which includes a three page narrative and a spread sheet with actionable items with dates for specific deliverables, follow up dates and well defined benchmarks that track both the deliverables and the results that you expect.
We provide the following services:
• Workshops/Seminars (just click)
• Pre-conference Workshops (just click)
• Overall accreditation consulting
• Peer review
• Online consulting
• On-site consulting
• Hourly via the phone consulting
• Accreditation planning
• Goal setting/reviews – Mission
• Strategic Planning
• Conceptual framework
• Accreditation assessment mapping
• Curriculum assessment mapping
• Standards alignment
• University, unit or program reviews
• Faculty qualifications validation
• Employee skills assessment
• Mock visits
• Independent Reader of institutional report
• Pre-visit documentation review
• Systems analysis
• Data analysis
• Assessment system development and analysis
No matter what system/mechanism you choose to use to collect your data, you can utilize our services.