The Effect of the New CCU Doctorate

The US Department of Education contributes to this by referring to "Regional" and "National Institutional" accreditation.

CHEA calls them "National Career-related" and "National Faith-Related" to go with "Regional" and "Programmatic."

I realize that there are some folks--invariably students or graduates of DETC-accredited schools--who insist that all institutional accreditors are on the same footing, that the RA/NA distinction is illusory, etc. I find it interesting that both the USDoE and CHEA distinguish RA from NA in separate lists and nomenclature, instead of putting the institutional accreditors (regional and national) on one list and the programmatic on another. CHEA goes on to further distinguish between RA and NA in it's Fundamentals article.

Oh, and here's another data point, also found in the Fundamentals article, question 15:

"Q. If you attend a nationally accredited institution, can you transfer and
get your credits accepted from a regionally accredited school?

A. Yes, but not all of the time. Decisions about transfer of credit are made at
the local level by colleges and universities."

It would be helpful if USDoE and CHEA moved away from the obviously misleading "national" term, given that it is natural in this culture to assume "national" is more important than "regional." But I find it interesting that neither organization has decided to drop distinctions between the two.

(Interestingly, CHEA stated in its November 2000 article, "A Statement to the Community: Transfer and the Public Interest," that the decision to transfer credits should "not made solely on the source of accreditation of a sending program or institution." Hear, hear. Still, many RA schools will not accept credits from NA schools as a matter of policy. Others will do so based upon ACE recommendations, where available. And still others will accept them. Nice of CHEA to have said this, but they don't enforce it, leaving the prerogative to individual schools)

"All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others." George Orwell, Animal Farm

 

Add to the confusion that some often use the acronym nationally accredited (NA)...

When I see the acronym NA, I always think "not applicable".

 

So is substituting the word "Regional" for "Middle States...New England...North Central...Northwest...Western...Southern" a bit of a marketing trick?

 

Why do you ask? Are you equivocating regional accreditation with the misleading comparison of DETC accreditation to national accreditation?

 

I thought that DETC accredits schools, not programs or specific degrees?

Tim.

 

So with this all in mind I am going to wait to finish my last class with Nations U till they get done. In truth I did finish the last class but they seem to have somehow lost all my course work, I was livid at first but it might be a blessing now.