I WOULD like to comment on the articles relating to accredited colleges and universities that have been printed in The Straits Times in recent weeks. I am a former member of the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges, representing the Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities. Both of these commissions are within the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, one of the six regional higher education accreditation organisations in the United States.

In the US, in order to start a university, one must receive a licence from the state in which the university has its head office. Each state has its own requirements for licensure. Beyond licensure, however, the US has a voluntary system of accreditation. In order to apply and receive accreditation, the university must be licensed to offer degrees, but accreditation goes far beyond licensure.

In order to become accredited, institutions undergo a rigorous review to ensure that they meet specific standards. To maintain accreditation, the institutions must submit annual reports to the accrediting agency and also undergo a periodic re-accreditation process (the period is set by the regional accrediting commission and ranges from six to 10 years in duration).

Both initial accreditation and re-accreditation require extensive self-study by the institution. The self-study is followed by a site visit to the institution by a team of higher education practitioners. The purposes of the visit are to ensure that the self-study is accurate and the institution meets the standards for accreditation. The self-study and report of the visiting team are reviewed by the regional accrediting commission, which makes the final determination about the accreditation status of each institution under review. Institutions that are unable to maintain standards lose their accreditation.

The standards themselves are written and available on the websites of each of the regional accrediting bodies. The standards include, but are not limited to, requirements that institutions maintain rigorous academic standards, that they ensure student learning occurs and that their operations are financially sound.

An important standard is that an accredited institution is required to supply accurate information about itself in all publications. Likewise, all individuals acting on behalf of the institutions must represent the institution factually at all times.

Therefore, the major difference between institutions that are accredited in the US and those that are not is that the accredited institutions have an external verification that they meet quality standards. Institutions that are not accredited can claim to maintain the same level of quality, but there is no external verification for that claim. As the Romans would say, caveat emptor (let the buyer beware). Without some sort of quality assurance by a properly qualified authority (as exists, for example, in Hong Kong, Thailand and Australia), the residents of Singapore will continue to find themselves deceived by unscrupulous institutions.

Margaret Hartman (Madam)

This article was first published in The Straits Times on Oct 8, 2008.

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