Educational Relations

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ACCREDITATION

All UC campuses are accredited by California's regional accrediting agency, the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC).

Accreditation is the system used by American higher education to assure quality.  A distinctive American innovation, it began some 100 year ago, and relies on voluntary peer review in the belief that those within the academy are best able to evaluate the quality of higher education institutions. The process is facilitated by six regional accrediting associations which are independent, non-profit organizations whose members are the educational institutions within the region.  These agencies are responsible for assessing the overall academic and educational performance of the college or university.  Each regional accrediting agency establishes its own processes and review procedures, and the specific standards used to assess a university's performance are determined by each region.  The federal government looks to the accrediting process to provide assurance not only of quality but also of the financial viability of the educational institutions whose students are to receive federal financial aid.  Consequently, accrediting agencies must comply with specific federal policies in order to be recognized by the Department of Education, and colleges and universities must be accredited by a recognized agency in order for their students to be eligible to receive federal financial aid.  The two fundamental objectives of accreditation can be seen, then, as the assurance of public accountability by the institution, and the encouragement of self-improvement on the campus, viewed in the context of the campus's own mission.

The Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) is the accrediting association for the western region of the United States which includes California, Hawaii, the territories of Guam, American Samoa, Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of Palau, Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands, the Pacific Basin, and East Asia, and areas of the Pacific and East Asia where American/International schools or colleges may apply to it for service.  The Association has three Commissions that oversee accreditation for (1) schools below the college level, (2) community and junior colleges, and (3) senior (four-year) colleges and universities.  The last of these, the Senior Commission of WASC, is the body responsible for accrediting the University of California campuses.  Reviews generally take place on a ten-year cycle.

The Educational Relations department provides systemwideliaison with WASC.  Because UC campuses are part of a system, some of the information required for accreditation reviews is the same for all ten campuses, e.g. information about governance, research and personnel policies, etc., and this information can be made available by the UC System office on behalf of all campuses. Therefore the Systemwide Guide to Stipulated Policies for the WASC capacity review has been prepared by the Educational Relations Department. 

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