A Culture of Continuous Improvement

The culture of accreditation, and certainly the culture of the Southern Association, is a commitment to continuous improvement. We don't expect to be perfect, but we do expect to know what "good academic practices" are, to strive to implement them at every point in the institution, and to be honest about the degree to which we have achieved our goals.

The first principle of accreditation is institutional integrity. That means we are not trying to cut corners or let deficiencies slide, let alone cheat in our commitment to our mission and goals. We are committed to doing the best we can and to being honest about it.

In fact, a culture of continuous improvement admits that we are not perfect, demonstrates that we know what good academic practices are, and seeks to improve whenever and wherever possible. To do so, we are also committed to researching and assessing our outcomes to honestly determine how we are doing. After we conduct a thorough assessment, we will draw conclusions that will help us do better, and we will develop a plan to improve. Then we will agree on specific actions steps and assign specific people to be responsible for those steps. In the end, we will assess how well we did with those action steps and plan to make further improvements. Etc., etc.

This process is significantly different from my former context in Christian ministry. I certainly did my best to plan, but the process was not always that systematic. Instead of looking for ways to improve I'm afraid it was more often a matter of "spinning" the truth to look as good as possible. In fact, we would refer to this process as "evangelastically speaking." In higher education it is not about looking good, it is about finding ways to continuously improve.

Accreditation! Who Needs It?

The issue of accreditation is the great unknown to most people - parents and students alike. What is it? Why is it so important? Do we really need it?

To begin with, accreditation provides a network of educational institutions that decides to be accountable to one another. It is a "collegium" in the best sense of the word. (Some would call it an academic club.) Membership in the collegium is based on a commitment to institutional integrity and to good academic practices. The goal is to serve students as best as possible.

Instead of accrediting educational institutions, the U.S. and State governments have chosen to let private, voluntary agencies do it. The goal of accrediting agencies is to improve the quality of education at member institutions, and to assure the public that those institutions meet established standards. If an accrediting agency is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, it opens up the door to grants and other forms of financial assistance.

There are three kinds of accrediting agencies:
1. National Agencies accredit specific types of institutions no matter where they are located. Beacon University is accredited by the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS). Obviously the uniqueness of TRACS is that it accredits only Christian institutions.
2. Regional Agencies, who accredit institutions in certain regions. There are six regionals, including the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). SACS was founded in 1895 and serves 11 southern states, including the State of Georgia. The regional agency seeks to represent the best interests of the institutions in a certain region; membership makes available additional benefits to students who live in that region, and as a result, all the students who attend a member school.
3. Professional Agencies, who accredit professional programs within an institution. For example, the Association of Theological Schools (ATS) accredits seminary programs. There are professional agencies for counseling programs, business programs, etc. Professional accreditation adds an additional layer to the quality and accountability of professional programs, resulting in specific vocational benefits to students who graduate from those programs.

Our current membership in TRACS has provided very important services to the institution and benefits to our students. TRACS is a partner and friend to Beacon and we highly value our membership.

Beacon University is currently in the process of applying for membership to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. SACS has the reputation of being the most rigorous of the six regional agencies, however, membership in SACS will bring BU to a whole new level of excellence.

In the process of applying for membership we will need to dialogue about key issues along the way. Membership in SACS will be a group effort and a group adventure with multiplied group benefits. Stay tuned!