Accreditation in the United States: How did we get to where we are?

Abstract

Accreditation has a rich history that has shaped its purposes and processes.

US accreditation in Mexico: quality in higher education as symbol, performance and translation

“…Such a need to reduce ambiguity creates incentives for accreditors and other quality providers to become authorities. Traditional players, such as US accrediting agencies, with their long experience in accreditation (Brittingham, 2009), become legitimized as authorities.…”

Teacher education accreditation in Turkey: The creation of a culture of quality

“…The features, focus, and relationship with government are highly influenced by the history and culture in which they operate (Brittingham, 2009). For example, for some countries, such as the United Arab Emirates, quality assurance agencies were formed to oversee new private universities in a country that had previously had only government institutions.…”

Perspectives on Higher Education Accreditation from Portugal and the United States: An Evolving Process

“…Accreditation has for many years been an important element in institutions of higher education in the United States, and within the last twenty years has taken on growing significance around the world as nations have sought to improve their tertiary education institutions and broaden the bodies of students they seek to enroll [6] [7] [8]. The United States, unlike other nations, has chosen to allow accreditation to be performed by six private regional accrediting agencies, though during the Bush administration there were efforts by the Secretary of Education, Margaret Spellings to centralize accrediting to the federal government, or to at least create a more uniform method of doing so across the country.…”