Accreditation's Benefits for Individuals and Institutions

Participation in accreditation processes, on visiting teams as well as through institutional self-study, is an excellent opportunity for individual academics to augment their professional expertise in a range of higher education issues: strategic planning and assessment, resource management and capital investments, curriculum planning and program development, and academic and corporate governance. At the same time, robust engagement with accreditation processes can help colleges and universities address challenging issues through using planning and self-study to drive institutional change. In this chapter, the author first considers the benefits of participation on accreditation teams for members and the chair. She then presents a case study on the role that accreditation played in moving one institution from crisis to success.