NCU Reaccreditation Affirmed

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by mathguy, Feb 28, 2008.

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  1. mathguy

    mathguy New Member

    The accrediting team when leaving NCU today indicated that they would recommend reaffirmation of NCU's accreditation. I don't have any other information.
     
  2. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    Neither do we. Actually, we still have none. An anonymous poster offering up an unsubstantiated observation does not rise to the level of "information."

    Do you have something for others to go on, by chance?
     
  3. me again

    me again Well-Known Member

    The information came from the NCU chair at the school of business:
    There is nothing nefarious.
     
  4. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    None suspected. Thanks for the credible source.
     
  5. bing

    bing New Member

    Here is all I know. They posted this on the NCU learner site yesterday. It doesn't mean reaccreditation. I think it means that it seems favorable.




     
  6. dbahomeland

    dbahomeland New Member

    NCU receives reaffirmation

    I was at the site visit. I am a Learner in the business school. The team recommended only 3 years reaffirmation, close monitoring of the board of trustee's activities, and yet a follow up focus visit in one year. So this is not hearsay-I heard this from the team chair's mouth at the exit interview. Nothing refarious? I don't think anything is refarious, they are just spinning it to sound as positive as possible.

    Ten years is the what most schools in good standing get. 7 years would have been very good. 5 years is what NCU got the first time around, so put your thinking caps on people-3 years is not a resounding vote of approval. This was about board governance. The board changes there faster than the speed of light. The HLC is very concerned about governance and how decisions are made. Asking for copies of minutes of each meeting says, "we are watching you and want to ensure this is a real board not a kangaroo board that serves at the pleasure of the owner. " The academic changes that have happened spun the place out of control. Some of us who were present as Learners spoke our truth regarding out most recent experiences. No support -dissertations languishing, no communicaton (real communication-not political diatribe) from our administration. It will take months for the information to become public. The recommendations are written up, sent back to the institution. The institution then will reply. Then a review panel or committee at the HLC meets and reviews and then their is a HLC board that meets. This is what the HLC team told us.

    So the real truth will not be public for months. In the meanwhile, the recommendation is for only 3 years which is not enough time for most doctoral Learners to come in and finish. So while people listen to what the dean of the school of business wrote and the president wrote-it is misleading. I was there. I was interviewed along with fellow Learners. I heard the outcome.
    I am happy that they didn't closedown. I am out of there is less than 3 months. With the chaos that is inside, they were lucky, because the HLC didn't want to strand all the Learners. And, you should know, that all the changes the provost made fell flat-academically unsound and not in the best interests of serving students.

    So, be wary of these advertisements you read on the internal blogs. They are not telling the "whole" story, just the spin.
     
  7. dbahomeland

    dbahomeland New Member

    Unsubtantiated. I was there my friend. I was one of the invited Learners. I was interviewed. I heard the outcome. 3 years. The very least you can get with stiff monitoring of activities. Learners are not happy that they are being mislead now with comments saying reaffirmation-yes they recommended reaffirmation, but only for 3 years. The team was not impressed with the answers they got from the Board and from the administration.

    THink about this. A president leaves. A new one is put in place the same day. An entire new board is put in place. A new provost comes in and fires the education chair-who had the fastest growing program. They try to cover up by saying the schools were in financial trouble without giving the schools details on all the expenses the administration was spending. They hire a president, a provost and a COO (combined salaries over 600K per year), raise the rent,slap on high management fees, and then fire faculty -funny you don't need faculty but you need these highly paid guys? The HLC saw that the academic changes plummeted the place into chaos. They saw no consistency in the board. NCU was lucky that the HLC doesn't want to strand the students. So, don't say my post isn't substantiated. I was there.
     
  8. dbahomeland

    dbahomeland New Member

    The credible source is the dean of the School of Business. She is an employee. Nice lady but wants to keep her job. The provost told her to post and told her what to post. I was there. So were other Learners who told "their" truth. That is why they got only 3 years as a recommendation.
     
  9. me again

    me again Well-Known Member

    The information age...

    If what you say is true, then it's all good. I've seen the regional accreditors put colleges on probation where if they didn't make specific changes pronto, then their regional accreditation would be yanked (I forgot the term for this). So if NCU gets continued approval from the regional accreditors for another 3, 5, 7 or 10 years, then that's a good sign, indeed. NCU is the first school in the United States to offer regionally accredited doctoral degrees that are 100% online and, as such, continued close scrutiny is to be expected to ensure that it's legit. It's an experiment in the making in the 21st Century. If NCU eventually loses its regional accreditation, then that would probably be the fate of all future proposals by all colleges and universities to offer doctoral degrees that are 100% online. What you see now is historic and it's unfolding before your very eyes. This is the information age.
     
  10. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    All I said was that the first poster didn't offer information because that "information" wasn't substantiated by either (a) the evidence offered nor (b) the identity of the person standing by the post. That's all. Frankly, I didn't have much doubt about the information itself, just the way it was represented.

    As for NCU, this is a good outcome. Because they were being considered for re-accreditation, putting them on notice (bad) or probation (worse) wasn't appropriate. But, given the short re-accreditation period, the outcome is the same. They're on a short leash.

    Three years isn't enough time to get in and get out of a doctoral program, true. But it is enough time to get done if one is already there. But the three years isn't even a guarantee; HLC could pull its accreditation at any time, assuming due process.

    Congratulations to those currently enrolled.
     
  11. bing

    bing New Member

    This is why I've got to start cracking the whip a bit harder on myself and get it done. I can probably finish in less than 1.5 years. 1.5 years doesn't seem too bad now that I'm this far into it.

    Bing

     
  12. dbahomeland

    dbahomeland New Member

    3 year recommendation

    If you think 3 years is a sign of confidence, then you don't understand accreditation. You might want to spend some time on the higherlearningcommission site. UoP, Capella, Walden got ten years. Even Argosy got 7. When you only get 3 that is low as they can go without putting the school on probation. So as a student, this doesn't say anything to me about the university being in good shape. If you were at the site visit, you would have heard the questions, the concerns, etc. about all the abrupt changes, lack of planning, and confusion. As of last fall, the faculty (most of which were fired) and the employees were highly confident that they would get at least 5 if not 7. When you have one person making all these big decisions you lose focus, which I think is what happened to NCU. Too bad, really, because they had a great rep when I entered. Under the old administration they got ACBSP accreditation for their b-school, and the numbers were jumping. I remember one of the team members saying that academics now lacked infrastructure and support, and they were relying heavily on only adjuncts. Do you know what the ratios are of Capella and Walden regarding full time academics to students? NCU, given they are top heavy with doctoral students, no longer has the support it had. The Learners that were present spoke their truth. I think NCU should consider itself lucky that it got 3 years. I figure the HLC didn't want to have all the students homeless , because if they got probation, there would be a mass exodus of people. Anyway, this is what I know from being there and from studying the higher learning commission web site.
     
  13. dbahomeland

    dbahomeland New Member

    Good for you. Crack the whip, and get out before the reputation really starts going south. Good luck to you-and I mean that truly. I am glad I am almost done. Take care.
     
  14. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    The sky is falling! :eek:
     
  15. John Bear

    John Bear Senior Member

    me again: "NCU is the first school in the United States to offer regionally accredited doctoral degrees that are 100% online..."

    John: I had thought that the school formerly known as Touro University International had that honor.

    Also: just wondering if it is known why they changed the name from "North Central" to "Northcentral." (And, incidentally, what is it that they are in the north central of?)
     
  16. Shawn Ambrose

    Shawn Ambrose New Member

    Correct me if I am wrong (which I might be), but under any school's worst case senario, wouldn't the school be placed on probation first before the accreditation was revoked? If I am not mistake, a school placed on probation usually has one year to start moving forward. Again, if anyone has more experience, please correct me...

    From my limited experience, a focus visit is a big deal. The institution where I work at went though this process last year to address concerns (board governance and program outcomes assessment were the major concerns).

    Shawn
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 2, 2008
  17. eric.brown

    eric.brown New Member

    I *think* the name was changed to not conflict with the original North Central University (http://www.northcentral.edu/) but I'm not sure.

    Perhaps they chose their name because they are in North central Arizona. They are in Prescott...which seems to be in Central AZ. Or...they wanted to appeal to the vanity of the accrediting agency that would be handling them (the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools).
     
  18. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    Touro International U. was the first in the U.S. John has regaled us in the story about contacting Middle States about their inclusion of TUI into Touro College's accreditation, and how that created the first 100% non-residential Ph.D. (And how they were surprised to find out they created the first one!)

    Northcentral changed its name in response to, IIRC, North Central University's already having that name. (Not that two universities can't have the same name, of course.)
     
  19. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    North Central Bible College in Minnesota, also accredited by the North Central Association, changed its name to North Central University, so the then-unaccredited North Central University of Arizona changed its name to Northcentral University while applying for accreditation from the North Central Association. Is Prescott in north-central Arizona?
     
  20. Bruce

    Bruce Moderator

    More or less.
     

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