Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU)

The Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities is a regionally accrediting body, the most respected form of accreditation. When attending a post-secondary school with regional accreditation you will be assured that you are receiving a high quality education at a respected and distinguished institution.

The Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU) is one of the most eminent accreditation firms in America, recognized by the US Department of Education and the Council for Educations Accreditation (CHEA). The NWCCU accredits 162 post secondary schools in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington.

The Principles of NWCCU

NWCCU prides itself, and its accredited schools, on fostering excellence and encouraging improvement through a continuous self-improvement process. They counsel, offer assistance and suggest improvements to developed and distinguished schools in the region to ensure the educational quality in the Northwest is not only up to par, but also surpasses the national standards. Student education is of the utmost importance and NWCCU acts as the governor in charge of ensuring the schools in their Northwest region promote excellence through a serious of standardizations and criteria based evaluations.

NWCCU also keeps the general and educational community up to date on their accredited schools so the institutes continue to thrive with public support and student involvement.

Accreditation Requirements

To become accredited by the NWCCU a post secondary school is put through a rigorous criteria-based analysis based on the following six steps: an application, which looks at the institute's plan, budget and catalogue; a self-study analysis, which examines the institutes resources, effectiveness, activities and student achievement, performance and commensuration process; a candidacy, which acts as another application by the institute; the evaluation and decision process, which involves all 26 members of the Commission; accreditation, which is granted for three years followed by another evaluation; and finally, annual payments which vary depending on the income of the newly-accredited institute.

Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities is recognized by the United States Department of Education and the Council on Higher Education Accreditation.

Article References

Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities
http://www.nwccu.org/index.htm