MC Accomplishes Reaccreditation Process as Preparations for Fall Continue
SACSCOC reports to the government whether an institution is giving a quality experience to the students. If a university is not meeting expectations, the government will pull its funding.
Every 10 years, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) examines Mississippi College (MC) for university reaccreditation. SACSCOC exists to ensure that institutions of higher education are providing a quality experience and education for its students.
The purpose of SACSCOC revolves around the students. Many students use federal funding to help pay for their education. SACSCOC reports to the government whether an institution is giving a quality experience to the students. If a university is not meeting expectations, the government will pull its funding from the school.
“We have about 50 standards that everyone has to comply with,” said Assistant Provost of Institutional Effectiveness and Associate Professor of Kinesiology Dr. Keith Randazzo. “It ranges from everything from how your board of trustees acts to making sure we have enough resources in the library for students.”
MC faculty and staff began crafting responses to the 50 standards about two years ago. Out of the 50 standards, MC met 49 of them. SACSCOC recommended MC review their plan to assess the Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP).
The QEP is an area of student life that a university recognizes as needing improvement. SACSCOC reviews a university and its QEPs. With much consideration, students, faculty and staff decided that for the next 10 years, MC needs to improve upon advising.
“We‘re trying to think of ways to make advising more transformational than transactional,” said Randazzo. “Providing those transformational elements to it allows the development of better relationships betweens the faculty and the students.”
However, the offsite committee in charge of reviewing the standards flagged the part of MC’s QEP focusing on the assessment of how the university is planning to improve on advising and not the advising itself.
Though the bulk of the reaccreditation process is over, the university will receive the final decision in December.
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