Accrediting agency accepts CCRI’s fifth-year report

April 12, 2019

The Community College of Rhode Island received notification from the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE) this week that the college and university accrediting organization voted to accept CCRI’s fifth-year interim report.

Accreditation by NECHE indicates that CCRI meets or exceeds criteria for the assessment of institutional quality applied though a peer review process. An accredited college or university is one that has the necessary resources available to achieve its stated purposes through appropriate educational programs, is substantially doing so and gives reasonable evidence that it will continue to do so in the foreseeable future.

In outlining reasons for accepting the report and affirming accreditation, NECHE specifically cited CCRI’s success in:

• Assessing student learning outcomes and using the results to make improvements with emphasis on assessing learning outcomes.
  
  
• Completing, implementing and evaluating the effectiveness of its institutional plans with emphasis on the master plan, academic plan and technology plan.

NECHE cited CCRI’s report as “comprehensive and informative” and highlighted the college’s many accomplishments over the past five years, including a review of the college mission and creation of the 2018-21 strategic plan.

“I know the amount of hard work that went into the report submitted to NECHE by many individuals across the college, and I am grateful,” said CCRI President Meghan Hughes. “We should be very proud of this meaningful accomplishment. It is a testament to our collective commitment to excellence and to our students and our college.”

Among other initiatives, NECHE recognized:

• The increase in the percentage of courses taught by full-time faculty.
  
  
• The expected launch of the first fully online program – the Associate in Business Administration.
  
  
• The hiring of the college’s first-ever director of academic program review and accreditation.
• The creation of the Office of Advising.
  
  
• The college’s commitment to serving students who require special accommodations.
  
  
• The increase in resources and processes CCRI has added to promote student learning.

Led by Alan Whitcomb, director of academic program review and accreditation, and Rajiv Malhotra, director of institutional research and assessment, the team that participated in the report included representatives from faculty, staff and administration.