WARWICK – The Community College of Rhode Island has received a passing grade when it comes to its accreditation.
The New England Commission of Higher Education, an accrediting agency for universities and colleges in New England, has voted to accept CCRI’s fifth-year report, according to the school. That means CCRI met or exceeded criteria needed for the agency’s accreditation during a peer review.
According to NECHE guidelines, accredited schools have shown they have the necessary resources available to achieve its stated purposes through appropriate educational programs, are substantially doing so and give reasonable evidence that they will continue to do so in the foreseeable future.
In outlining reasons for accepting the report and affirming accreditation, the commission cited CCRI’s success in:
- Assessing student learning outcomes and using the results to make improvements with emphasis on assessing learning outcomes.
- Completing, implementing and evaluating the effectiveness of its institutional plans with emphasis on the master plan, academic plan and technology plan.
The commission cited CCRI’s report as “comprehensive and informative” and highlighted the college’s accomplishments over the past five years, including a review of the college mission and creation of the 2018-21 strategic plan.
“I know the amount of hard work that went into the report submitted to NECHE by many individuals across the college, and I am grateful,” said CCRI President Meghan Hughes. “We should be very proud of this meaningful accomplishment. It is a testament to our collective commitment to excellence and to our students and our college.”
Among other initiatives, NECHE recognized:
- The increase in the percentage of courses taught by full-time faculty.
- The expected launch of the first fully online program – an associate degree in business administration.
- The hiring of the college’s first director of academic program review and accreditation.
- The creation of the Office of Advising.
- The college’s commitment to serving students who require special accommodations.
- The increase in resources and processes CCRI has added to promote student learning.
Alan Whitcomb, director of academic program review and accreditation, and Rajiv Malhotra, director of institutional research and assessment, led the team that assembled the report.
William Hamilton is a PBN staff writer and the special projects editor. You can follow him on Twitter @waham or email him at hamilton@pbn.com.
