Category: Accreditation

In this week’s Changing Higher Ed, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Dr. Stephen Pruitt, President of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC). They focus on what SACSCOC’s current direction means for institutions in practical terms: faster substantive change pathways, clearer expectations, standards revision work, new transparency tools, and how institutions can keep student benefit and public trust at the center of accreditation strategy.

What you’ll gain from listening to this podcast:

✓ Substantive Change Fast Track: What it means that SACSCOC eliminated more than half of substantive change categories, shifted others to presidential review, and can turn approvals in as little as a week.

✓ Students First Always: How to pressure-test institutional decisions using one question, how does this benefit students, and what that implies

In this episode of Changing Higher Ed, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Dr. Nasser Paydar, President and CEO of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA), about how institutions can use accreditation to strengthen strategy, rebuild trust, and improve student success during one of the most consequential periods for higher education oversight.

What you’ll gain from listening to this podcast:

✓ The shifting expectations accreditors now face from federal agencies and how this will influence institutional reviews.

✓ Why transparency around program cost, value, and student outcomes has become central to rebuilding public trust.

✓ How demographic pressures and uneven completion rates are shaping accreditation priorities.

✓ The connection between accreditation readiness and institutional strategy, governance, and resource allocation.

✓ How CHEA is convening regional and programmatic accreditors to align

In this episode of Changing Higher Ed, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Maria Toyoda, President and CEO of the WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC). The conversation focuses on how accreditation expectations are shifting and what leaders must do to maintain institutional strength as accountability, student outcomes, and financial pressures intensify.

What you will learn from this episode:

✓ Accreditation expectations: How WSCUC evaluates institutional effectiveness, learning outcomes, and mission alignment.

✓ Student readiness: Why post-pandemic learning gaps require new support strategies and coordinated academic systems.

✓ Outcomes transparency: How program-level debt, earnings, and default data shape decisions about program viability and student success.

✓ Institutional evidence: What leaders must know about aligning assessment, improvement processes, and evidence systems with accreditation standards.

✓ Financial resilience: How declining enrollment, demographic

In Part 2 of this two-part series, Dr. Drumm McNaughton and Dr. Belle Wheelan conclude their discussion of the challenges facing higher education accreditation. Wheelan shares her assessment of higher ed accreditation, SACSCOC standards, response to criticism of accreditation, and where SACSCOC would like to focus in the future.

In Part 1 of this two-part series, Dr. Drumm McNaughton and Dr. Belle Wheelan begin their discussion of the tsunami of issues facing higher ed and accreditation today, recent SACSCOC standards, her response to criticism of accreditation, and Wheelan’s assessment of what the future holds for SACSCOC.

Are you staying informed of the changes in higher ed accreditation and what those changes could mean to your strategic planning? Higher education institutions are increasingly being called to improve the quality of education they provide and to be more innovative. Institutional accreditation serves as quality control to ensure that institutions are remaining true to their mission and providing academic benefit to students.