With much anticipation and relief to staff and faculty, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education unofficially accredited Bucks County Community College during a presentation this past Wednesday.
Although the official announcement from the commission isn’t due until June, the Bucks campus may now rest easy after a two-year internal review performed alongside Bucks’ staff and faculty members. Like every institution throughout the country, Bucks must reapply for accreditation every 10 years through their regional accreditation association.
This is not only great news to staff and faculty, but to students as well, as the college would stand to lose greatly if it failed to gain its accreditation. Without it, other colleges would fail to accept credits earned by Bucks students, as well as the loss of many financial aid options such as federal Pell grants.
The presentation highlighted the 14 standards that each institution judged by the commission must adhere to, with Bucks meeting the requirements for each. Although the community college met every standard set by the commission, there were recommendations made, some of which originated from the self-study review.
“The goal is to improve,” said Bucks President James Linksz. “That’s more important than just how well the college performed overall.”
Overall President Linksz emphasized the administrations interest in student general assessment as a key goal for the college, no matter how difficult that process may be for an institution like Bucks.
The committee specifically highlighted three areas which Bucks could improve before their five year review process begins. These recommendations included a study of Bucks’ planning process, improvement of communication of student assessments, as well as a study to help better organize certain aspects of governance including the Faculty Contract Governance Committees and Planning Advisory Committee.
“Simplify was the general theme,” said Linksz, who indicated that the uniqueness of the institution played a role in the complexity of Bucks’ inner workings.
The seven individuals from Middle States, a group consisting of non-bias volunteer members of bordering community colleges from New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, D.C, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, conducted an eight week review of Bucks’ self-study as well as a two day peer campus review to determine Bucks’ status for accreditation with the Middle States Commission.
“Higher education is the big picture,” said Dr. Steven M. Rose, president of Passaic County Community College and chairman of the Middle States committee.
“In the view of our peers we have met or exceeded of all the recommendations of excellence,” said William Ford, a professor of psychology, social and behavioral science, as well as the co-chair of the self-study. Ford has also been a volunteer with the commission since 1998, traveling to other schools to review their accreditations.
After compiling the 100 page self-study review, Dr. Ford and his team highlighted specific goals the college hopes to set forth to help improve the learning experience for students at Bucks. Among their goals was keeping the student body aware of the services available at the college, as well as identifying the keys to an ideal core curriculum.
“Their job is to validate our report and give a complete picture of what the college is up to,” said Ford, who was also aided by Vice President of Student Affairs Barbara Yetman and Associate Professor and online learning librarian William Hemmig.
The staff and faculty played a major role in shaping not only the self-study, but also helped in the peer review performed by Middle States. Students also played a role in shaping the commission’s short visit to the college.
Middle States held an open forum on March 26 that allowed students from all three campuses to express their views of Bucks. Although many agreed that Bucks had much to offer, such as the tutoring center and the “awesome” refurbished library, students were in agreement that the distance of parking, cost of books and cafeteria food were all drawbacks to their college experience.
“It’s almost regrettable to leave, I have loved my time at Bucks,” said Michael Blow, 25, a business administration major from Newtown, who spoke at the student forum about his experiences at the college. “I’ve been here for a year and I’ve had no problems with logistics.”
The satellite campuses also received a chance to share their experiences at Bucks with a live stream feed that connected them to the forum in Newtown. Each campus shared their concerns, which ranged from a lack of full time staff for financial aid and tutoring to a dependence on the Newtown campuses library. Overall the satellites loved their campuses and found Bucks to be a great institution due to the presence of helpful advisors and vibrant student life programs.
The final review will be brought to the chairmen’s briefing by team chairmen Dr. Rose, after which it will head to the vice president of the Middle States Commission. Finally the report will then be decided upon by 20 to 25 elected members of Middle States Commission on higher education in June. Bucks will be given the opportunity to write a letter of appeal if they disagree with any of the decisions made by the commission.