Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU) is an independent, non-profit membership organization recognized by the United States Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) as the regional authority on educational quality and institutional effectiveness of higher education institutions in the seven-state Northwest region of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington. It fulfills its mission by establishing accreditation criteria and evaluation procedures by which institutions are reviewed.

The Commission oversees regional accreditation for 156 institutions. Its decision-making body consists of twenty-six Commissioners who represent the public and the diversity of higher education institutions within the Northwest region.

The organization traces its history to 1917 when the Northwest Association of Secondary and Higher Schools was formed. In 1974 the association changed its name to the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges. In 2000 it became the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges and Universities, which disbanded and split into two separate organizations in 2004, with the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities handling the accreditation of institutions of higher education and the Northwest Association of Accredited Schools handling the accreditation of primary and secondary schools.^[1]

[edit] See also

• School accreditation
• Regional accreditation
• United States Department of Education
• Council for Higher Education Accreditation
• List of recognized accreditation associations of higher learning

[edit] Notes

1. ^ History of the Northwest Association of Accredited Schools and Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities History, accessed February 5, 2007.

[edit] External links

• Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities Official website