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Disciplinary Accreditation Guidelines

Disciplinary accreditation is important to UNF, the BOG, and SACSCOC, evidenced by the policies and regulations following these guidelines. 

To ensure that UNF’s programs maintain disciplinary accreditation, the Office of Institutional Accreditation and the Director of Institutional Effectiveness will oversee UNF’s Academic Accreditation Council (AAC), which comprises members from all units leading disciplinary accreditation efforts of UNF’s disciplinary-accredited programs.

The following guidelines are to be followed by all programs seeking or holding disciplinary accreditation or re-accreditation. You can also download a PDF copy of the Disciplinary Accreditation Guidelines.

GENERAL GUIDELINES 

  • Membership in the UNF AAC is to be maintained by all disciplinary-accredited programs. When the person leading disciplinary accreditation for a program changes, OIE must be notified by email immediately.
  • All correspondence to disciplinary accreditors must be forwarded to OIE for review BEFORE being sent to the disciplinary accreditor. That correspondence will be maintained in Nuventive by OIE for current and future leaders of the program’s disciplinary accreditation.
  • All correspondence from disciplinary accreditors (including exam pass rate reports even if not directly from accreditor, where applicable) must be forwarded to OIE to be added to Nuventive for current and future leaders of the program’s disciplinary accreditation.
  • All substantive changes must be communicated to OIE BEFORE submission for review.
  • Any changes to curriculum through the APC process that has the potential to impact disciplinary accreditation must be discussed with OIE (the Director of Institutional Effectiveness sits ex oficio on the APC meeting) PRIOR and AFTER APC approval to ensure students are handled appropriately in UNF’s systems.
  • All disciplinary accreditation actions (submission of self-study reports, review by off-site committees, onsite visits, disciplinary accreditor decisions, etc.) must be communicated by the AAC member to OIE and logged into Nuventive at the START of the academic year in which the actions will occur.
  • If the disciplinary accreditor utilizes a portal/system that requires user ID and password, that information must be provided to OIE.
  • The AAC member must report IMMEDIATELY to OIE if the program is out of compliance (or in danger of being out of compliance) with disciplinary accreditation standards/principles.


REACCREDITATION GUIDELINES

  • The ACC member must meet with OIE to discuss disciplinary reaccreditation in the fall of the year BEFORE the self-study report (or similar) is due to the disciplinary accreditor. The discussion will include important dates, timeline, requirements, expectations, suggestions, questions, etc. The meeting will include attendance of at a minimum, OIE, the AAC member, the chair of the department, and the dean/associate dean of the college.
  • The self-study report, appendices, and materials must be provided at least a month in advance of submission to the disciplinary accreditor for review by OIE, the chair of the department, and the dean/associate dean of the college.
  • If the disciplinary accreditor utilizes a portal/system that requires user ID and password to enter the self-study report, that information must be shared with OIE, the chair of the department, and the dean/associate dean of the college.
  • All additional correspondence to/from the disciplinary accreditor regarding reaccreditation must be shared with OIE for review and to be added to Nuventive.


SITE VISIT GUIDELINES

  • The AAC member must notify OIE of the dates for any site visit(s) as soon as those dates are known.
  • The site visit itinerary must be approved by the Dean of the college or their Designee.
  • The disciplinary accreditor’s itinerary must be shared with OIE as soon as it is known.
  • The AAC member must provide the itinerary and the names of those attending the meetings of the disciplinary accreditor’s site visit to OIE for review and approval as soon as the information is known.
  • For the site visit’s EXIT INTERVIEW, the following MUST be invited (schedule conflicts may prevent attendance):
    • The President
    • The Provost
    • The College Dean/Associate Dean
    • The Department Chair
    • The Dean of The Graduate School (for graduate programs)
    • The Associate Vice Provost (for undergraduate programs)
    • The Assistant Vice President of Institutional Effectiveness
    • The Director of Institutional Effectiveness
  • One page of talking points must be crafted and provided to OIE to share with the President and Provost one month PRIOR to the Exit Interview.

RELEVANT POLICIES AND REGULATIONS

UNF Policy 2.0820P states that “the University expects academic units to seek and maintain national or specialized accreditation for colleges, schools, and academic programs for which there are established standards for programmatic accreditation. The University shall submit the State University System Accreditation Survey to the Office of the Board of Governors (BOG) on an annual basis. The survey will include the accreditation status of the University’s colleges, schools, and academic programs, including rationales for programs not seeking available accreditation.”

BOG Regulation 3.006 Accreditation states:

  • Each institution is encouraged to seek and take action to maintain national or discipline-specific accreditation for its colleges, schools, and academic programs for which there are established standards for programmatic accreditation.
  • Discipline-specific accreditation is required for academic programs in which graduation from an accredited program is a prerequisite to achieving licensure or certification for professional practice.
  • Each institution must provide notification to the university board of trustees and the chancellor within ten business days when an accredited academic program is placed on warning or probation or when the accreditation status is revoked by a discipline-specific accrediting body. The notification must include a report of any adverse accreditation findings provided by the discipline-specific accrediting body that outlines the basis for the change in accreditation status.

SACSCOC Accrediting Decision of Other Agents Policy Statement states:

SACSCOC does not grant candidacy, initial accreditation, or reaffirmation to an institution if SACSCOC knows, or has reason to know, that the institution is the subject of the following:

  1. A pending or final action brought by a State agency to suspend, revoke, withdraw, or terminate the institution’s legal authority to provide postsecondary education in the State;
  2. A decision by another United States Department of Education (USDE)-recognized agency to deny accreditation or candidacy;
  3. A pending or final action brought by another USDE-recognized accrediting agency to suspend, revoke, withdraw, or terminate the institution’s accreditation or candidacy; or
  4. Probation or an equivalent status imposed by a USDE-recognized accrediting agency.

SACSCOC requires candidate and member institutions holding accredited or candidacy (pre-accredited) status from more than one U.S. Department of Education recognized accrediting agency (https://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/Agencies.aspx) to keep each agency apprised of any change in its status with one or another agency. Any institution seeking or holding accreditation from more than one USDOE-recognized accrediting agency must represent itself accurately to each agency with regard to purpose, governance, programs, degrees, diplomas, certificates, personnel, finances, and constituents, and must keep each USDE-recognized accrediting body, including SACSCOC, apprised of any change in its status with one or another accrediting agency.

 

Authority: Approved by the Office of the President and the Office of the Provost

Document History:
Established January 2024
Edited February 2024