Athabasca University Surrenders Its US RA

Discussion in 'Accreditation Discussions (RA, DETC, state approva' started by Jonathan Whatley, Dec 7, 2024.

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  1. Jonathan Whatley

    Jonathan Whatley Well-Known Member

    MaceWindu and SteveFoerster like this.
  2. tadj

    tadj Well-Known Member

    I never supported Canadian institutions that tried to seek “additional accreditation” in the United States, something on top of their provincial degree-granting authorization. Not only does it pass the costs to the students (American accreditation isn’t free), it’s redundant. Athabasca’s accreditation page states: “The recognition by the Government of Alberta is equal to accreditation in all Canadian provinces.” I am glad they got rid of regional accreditation from a foreign country. I wish that the decision went along with a significant tuition reduction, but I doubt that it will have this effect.
     
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  3. Messdiener

    Messdiener Active Member

    Not saying I disagree (and forgive me for derailing this thread), but what do you make of other foreign universities applying for or possessing American accreditations, whether RA or NA? For example, Amity University in India that we've discussed for some years still proudly maintains its RA (through WASC). Or we could look at institutions like Christ College Taipei, which has maintained its TRACS accreditation (NA) since back in 2006. Is there value to these non-North American universities having American accreditation?

    For me, I'd wager that it adds to the quality assurance and may be a big selling point to some students that they're getting an American quality education in their respective countries and have the option to transfer their credits or even continue on to a higher degree post-graduation.
     
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  4. tadj

    tadj Well-Known Member

    In certain cases, the American accreditation-seeking may be justified, especially if we’re talking about programmatic accreditation. For example, the theological colleges in Canada may not possess ongoing quality assurance for their theological degrees, even though they have the equivalent of Canadian institutional accreditation by means of a provincial charter. While they already enjoy minimal supervision from their own provinces, it can still be justified to get ABHE or ATS accreditation to showcase this additional aspect of quality assurance. Still, I would much rather see local Canadian solutions to this issue, perhaps the formation of a local body dealing with quality assistance in that specific sector of Bible colleges and seminaries. The American programmatic accreditation will likely be costly and result in significant tuition increases for the average student. ATS is a little different, because it explicitly serves both North American markets and managed to gain significant recognition in Canada over time. But ABHE is essentially an official American accreditation body, which is recognized in one country despite having Canadian colleges as its members. Many Canadian Bible colleges have successfully resisted ABHE accreditation.

    Do I think that governmentally accredited Indian universities should seek American regional accreditation? I don’t think that’s a good idea to follow. But if they have a campus in the States, that’s a different issue. No doubt, it raises the standing of a university due to the overall reputation of the U.S. system of higher education. But I’d much rather see the improvement of Indian higher education sector and its quality assurance processes, so that this kind of foreign accreditation excursion becomes an oddity. For Canadian institutions, I don’t see a reason for American institutional accreditation validation, although some provincially-authorized universities (especially private ones) have tried to gain greater recognition that way in the past (particularly non-members of Universities Canada, although Athabasca is a full member of the organization: https://univcan.ca/about-universities-canada/our-members/).
     
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  5. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    You all make good points. I can see how some foreign institution might benefit from being institutionally accredited by a US organization, but Athabasca doesn't seem like one of them.
     
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  6. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    I once had an adjunct faculty member working for me with a doctorate from Central European University. Even though the school had a charter from the New York Board of Regents, and even though the Board of Regents is a recognized accrediting agency, I couldn't get her approved for doctoral-level pay. Then CEU became an RA candidate and bang, I was able to get her approved on that basis. CEU remains RA.
     

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