It’s re-accreditation time.

Every 10 years, the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools makes a three-day trip to the University to check the school’s progress on issues they deem in need of improvement and to conduct an overall evaluation of the University’s operation.

The NCA is one of six regional bodies part of the Higher Learning Commission and handles secondary and post-secondary institutions in 19 states, including Michigan and Indiana. The group was last at the University in March of 1993.

This time around, Bill Knight, the University’s director of planning and institutional research, and Mark Gromko, the vice provost for academic programs, were appointed to head the accreditation committee in the fall of 2000. During the 2001-2002 school year, Knight, Gromko and their steering committee of five writing committees completed their initial task, a self-study document.

The self-study, which in its final form, is an 85-page self-evaluation of how, in their research, the University is meeting the NCA’s suggestions of improvements. In the book, the men also mention what other potential problems the NCA may find this time around.

“In each of our sections, we try to address the student success aspect of the process,” Gromko said. “That is our biggest goal, and the subject we spend the most time on in the study.”

Besides the main goal of becoming re-accredited by the NCA, Knight said the process and the following 10 years are to improve the quality of education at the University.

“Our main goal is to be evaluative,” Knight said. “When the NCA comes in and tells us what they think we need to improve upon, we take that to heart and attempt to do that. In our self-study, we attempt to address our progress on those and also be evaluative in the process.”

With accreditation, the University and its students maintain the ability to have their credits transferred to another University, and students also maintain the ability to be granted federal financial aid.

The NCA lists five criteria for accreditation, which Knight and Gromko specifically address in the self study. They are purposes, resources, efficacy, planning and integrity.

The NCA brings a 10-member committee to campus, all of whom are involved in higher education in some form. Celestino Fernandez, a Sociology professor at Arizona, is the chair of the team.