Yup, they sure do. They also have a new mission in mind. Their website states the following: "For the first 57 years of the Association’s history (1947-2004), the ABHE (formerly the Accrediting Association of Bible Colleges) official scope of recognition by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) and the United States Department of Education (USDE) was limited to accreditation and pre-accreditation of undergraduate institutions that had a specific focus on biblical/theological education. However, the membership of the Association recently approved (February 20, 2004) new comprehensive integrated standards that address both undergraduate and graduate education for institutions that currently have or are seeking institutional accreditation. Because graduate education is a change of accreditation scope, an application is being prepared for submission to CHEA in 2004 seeking official approval to expand into this more advanced level of higher education. This new initiative is designed to more effectively serve the diversity of institutions within the Association. Approximately one-third of the member institutions within ABHE currently offer graduate education. The majority of these institutions do have their graduate programs accredited by a regional accrediting association and/or the Association of Theological Schools. Upon receiving approval from CHEA to expand the accreditation scope to include graduate education, and upon successfully accrediting several graduate institutions or programs, it will also be necessary to petition the USDE for their approval. The hope is to have graduate accreditation available in 2005." Interesting, don't you think? Pug
Now watch this, Pug. Some folks are gonna rush to enroll in those new doc programs, hoping they won't yet be rigorous but will be eventually CHEA-kosher. Just watch. It's a venerable pattern whose dishonesty is *no reflection at all on the accrediting agency*, but no less sleazy as far as those who try it are concerned. Futures trading in accreditation is the last refuge of people who lack the equipment to do real doctorates, but who are just bright enough to realize that outright mills no longer fool people they way they used to. Having said that, I hope this new venture works out well for AABC, with all the rigor necessary to make any future grad programs mountebank-proof, honorable, and productive of competent professionals and genuine scholars.
<<Now watch this, Pug. Some folks are gonna rush to enroll in those new doc programs, hoping they won't yet be rigorous but will be eventually CHEA-kosher. Just watch. It's a venerable pattern whose dishonesty is *no reflection at all on the accrediting agency*, but no less sleazy as far as those who try it are concerned. Futures trading in accreditation is the last refuge of people who lack the equipment to do real doctorates, but who are just bright enough to realize that outright mills no longer fool people they way they used to. Having said that, I hope this new venture works out well for AABC, with all the rigor necessary to make any future grad programs mountebank-proof, honorable, and productive of competent professionals and genuine scholars.>> I would hope that the ABHE would have an adequate handle on the appropriate rigor for a graduate program. Many schools that are accredited by the ABHE at the undergraduate level are RA or ATS at the graduate level. For example, Moody Bible Institute, Briercrest Bible College, Johnson Bible College, just to name a few. Hopefully the ABHE will take a look at graduate programs such as these, those that are right "in their yard" anyway, to come up with the appropriate standard. Pug
