A team from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges will visit campus Feb. 24-26 as part of the reaccreditation process for UCLA.
The four-year evaluation of the university that began in 2006 will end in July, confirming UCLA’s adherence to a rigorous standard of quality and guiding it to improve in certain areas, said Ralph Wolff, president and executive director of the accrediting association’s Senior College Commission.
“The (reaccreditation) process gives us an opportunity to think about what’s best for the campus. If there’s a particular project we may have thought about or imagined doing, it puts wind in our sails,” said Robin Garrell, a member of the UCLA steering committee that directs the evaluation proceedings.
The regional accrediting association is one of six in the US, and reviews universities, schools and colleges at least every 10 years. Though no institution is required to be accredited, only those that are can distribute financial aid, according to the association’s handbook.
This week, a committee composed of five volunteer officials from universities similar to UCLA will meet with faculty, academic administrators and students. The committee, which includes members from UC Santa Cruz and the University of Southern California, will assess and provide recommendations on the effectiveness of educational programs at UCLA.
The university’s framework for ensuring top-notch academics includes evaluation of student performance as well as student assessment of faculty toward the end of each quarter, said Judith Smith, vice provost for undergraduate students.
Departments’ formulations of learning outcomes, or what they expect students to learn, also contribute to UCLA’s multifaceted approach to educational effectiveness, she said.
“Improving educational effectiveness is an ongoing process on campus, and it’s helpful for us to receive feedback that would help us do better,” Smith said.
UCLA was last reaccredited in 1998 and has undergone such evaluation since 1949, according to its Web site. The university began the current round of review in 2005 when a faculty committee developed an institutional proposal laying out three themes, or areas the university wanted to improve.
After the proposal was accepted in 2006, the chancellor appointed a steering committee of 19 faculty and staff members to guide the review process. Though no students sit on the committee, representatives from the Undergraduate Students Association Council and the Graduate Student Association have participated in reaccreditation proceedings, said Mitsue Yokota, accreditation coordinator.
The second step of the evaluation was a capacity and preparatory review, which included a site visit in Oct. 2008 to examine whether UCLA was able to provide a quality education.
“That may seem like a silly thing to ask about UCLA, but some of the schools (the accrediting association) looks at are quite small and don’t have the capacity,” Smith said. “They also looked at whether we were prepared to move forward for the educational effectiveness review and allowed us to move onto that third stage.”
To prepare for the upcoming visit, the steering committee drafted essays on two of the three themes they selected at the beginning of the review. Guided by these essays, the accrediting team will look at the integration of technology in the classroom and the capstone initiative, which encourages departments to add a culminating project to their undergraduate majors.
The third theme, structuring interdisciplinary programs, will be replaced by an examination of the financial challenges the university faces.
“We are struggling, but even with that struggle, we are mindful of our obligations to continue to improve educational effectiveness,” Smith said.
After the committee leaves campus, its members will write a site visit report. The accrediting association’s senior college commission will then make recommendations for the university based on that report.
The commission will also schedule the year for the next reaccreditation visit, and a midway report or visit, Smith said.
In the end, reaccreditation helps to maintain the quality of higher education institutions by giving campuses an opportunity to determine what direction they would like to head in, said Sylvia Hurtado, director of the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA.
When the Western Association of Schools and Colleges was founded in 1962, the idea of accreditation was unique to the U.S., Wolff said. Since then, other nations have mimicked the process, he added.
“The success of American accreditation has led to the creation of a variety of different models throughout the world,” he said. “(Our model) has been diversified and applied across the world.”
Students, staff and faculty can interact with the team at open meetings on Feb. 25. Those who cannot attend may e-mail comments on academic-related issues to the committee at wasc2ucla@yahoo.com. The address will become inactive shortly after the visiting team leaves.