| |
The 57th Annual Meeting of the Accrediting Association of Bible Colleges, held February 19-21 at the Orlando Airport Marriott, may have been one of the most significant in the history of the Association. We enjoyed a record attendance with over 500 delegates. More importantly, the membership unanimously or almost unanimously approved all four major recommendations that were brought to the business meeting for ratification.
This particular issue of the AABC Newsletter highlights the four “Casting a New Vision” recommendations that were approved and the follow-up steps that are underway. This information will be of interest to those who attended the Annual Meeting as well as to those who could not be present.
Recommendation # 1–Approval of the Proposed Comprehensive Integrated Accreditation Standards:
The new comprehensive standards address both undergraduate and graduate education for institutions that currently have or are seeking institutional accreditation. Because graduate education is a change of accreditation scope, an application will be prepared and submitted to the Council for Higher Education Accreditation by early summer for their approval. The new standards will be published in a new ABHE Manual that will be released in the Fall-2004. Thorough training on the new standards will be made available at the 2005 Annual Meeting. Institutions going through the self-study process and hosting an evaluation team will be expected to begin utilizing the new standards in 2006.
Recommendation #2–Approval of the Proposed Programmatic Accreditation Standards: Programmatic accreditation has been designed for colleges and universities that seek accreditation for particular programs rather than for the entire institution. Institutions that pursue programmatic accreditation will be required to subscribe to the Association’s tenets of faith, provide evidence of institutional accreditation by a recognized agency, document appropriate state or provincial approvals to offer eligible programs, and furnish a mission statement that encompasses programs of preparation for church or parachurch vocations. Furthermore, the programs submitted for accreditation will need to comply with the Association’s curricular standards (relative to Bible/theology and general studies) and specific student ministry/ministry formation requirements.
Because programmatic accreditation is a new initiative for the Association, we will be required to submit a change of scope application to CHEA. This will be done in conjunction with the expansion of scope application for graduate education. We hope to make programmatic accreditation available in 2005.
Cont'd Next Column >>
<< Back to News Archives
<< Back To ABHE Home |
Recommendation #3–Approval of a Name Change from the Accrediting Association of Bible Colleges to the Association for Biblical Higher Education: The new name will officially take effect June 1. The article entitled “New Name Reflects Change” on page 2 outlines the details of the name change.
Recommendation #4–Approval of the Proposed Changes to the Constitution and Bylaws: Related to the three previous recommendations that were approved (comprehensive accreditation standards that include graduate education, programmatic accreditation standards, and a name change), it was necessary to make changes to the Constitution and Bylaws. Key changes to this essential document include:
- Any reference to the Accrediting Association of Bible Colleges has been changed to the Association for Biblical Higher Education.
- The mission statement has been changed to include accreditation and services for institutions and programs.
- A number of service-related items that do not involve accreditation now include member and affiliate institutions.
- The word “college(s)” has been replaced with the word “institution(s)” to be consistent with the nomenclature in the new standards.
- The words “Bible college education” has been replaced with “biblical higher education.”
- Provision has been made for institutions holding programmatic accreditation to provide as many as two of the 10 elected members to the Board of Directors and as many as two of the 10 elected members to the Commission on Accreditation.
- Institutions holding programmatic accreditation will be entitled to one voting delegate at business meetings of the Association.
The revised Constitution and Bylaws will be contained in the new ABHE Manual that will be distributed in the Fall-2004.
Discussion on these new developments will continue as we look to the future of the Association for Biblical Higher Education. These are exciting days as we continue to advance and assure quality biblical higher education.
Posted June 1, 2004 |
