College Accreditation

The Middle States Commission on Higher Education is the unit of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools that accredits degree-granting colleges and universities in the Middle States region, which includes Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and several locations internationally.

While endeavoring to maintain balance and flexibility in the evaluation of new forms of delivery, the regional commissions are also resolved to sustain certain values. These include, among other things:

that education is best experienced within a community of learning wherecompetent professionals are actively and cooperatively involved with
creating, providing, and improving the instructional program;
that learning is dynamic and interactive, regardless of the setting in
which it occurs;
that instructional programs leading to degrees having integrity are
organized around substantive and coherent curricula which define
expected learning outcomes;
that institutions accept the obligation to address student needs related to,and to provide the resources necessary for, their academic success;
that institutions are responsible for the education provided in their name
that institutions undertake the assessment and improvement of their
quality, giving particular emphasis to student learning;
that institutions voluntarily subject themselves to peer review.

There can be no doubt that there are challenges in sustaining these important
values through technologically mediated instruction. The regional commissions
appreciate this reality, and also recognize that these values may be expressed in
valid new ways as inventive institutions seek to utilize technology to achieve
their goals.

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