US Accreditation and Quality Assurance: Standards and Processes; Issues and Opportunities

Accreditation and quality assurance systems tend to reflect the strengths, weaknesses, and character of the contexts and cultures in which they arise, and those systems in the United States (US) are certainly no exception. The distinctive voluntary and independent accreditation system as well as many of the academic integrity issues of most concern within it can be traced back to the forces that shaped their evolution. Additional concerns have surfaced as gaps have arisen and grown between the accreditation system’s originally intended purposes and the additional, consequential functions it provides today. Still others have resulted from increased complication, politicization, and contradictions inherent in this unique and somewhat peculiar system of extra-governmental, decentralized quality assurance. This chapter provides an abbreviated history of the origin of that system and describes its guiding principles and quality assurance role. It goes on to identify some of the many academic integrity concerns inherent in the system, describe some of the risks and consequences associated with those concerns, and consider some exploratory avenues for reform.