The UNC “paper courses” scandal ran for 18 years, despite years of complaints from faculty and whistleblowers about the fraud. UNC administration maintains the fraud they were committing was only due to a rogue faculty, and they had no idea anything was going on, despite the many previous investigations into the matter that were squelched […] … learn more→

So I’m looking over a report detailing why accreditation is a joke. It has many things right, but I feel the need to clarify a few things, especially when the report tries to say that accreditation is a barrier to making improvements in higher education. “…the requirement that prospective colleges allow for on-site evaluations (meaning […] … learn more→

The Federal student loan scam program only disburses funds to accredited schools of higher education. The reason this is so is due to the Higher Education Act (HEA), which specifies that accreditation, and only accreditation, is key to getting all that sweet student loan loot, loot that does nothing for education but pumps up mightily […] … learn more→

The impending review and renewal of the Higher Education Act will be a defining moment in the tumultuous relationship between higher-education accreditation and the political forces of government. Many people in the academic world resist the inevitable and continuing political demands for greater openness, clinging to an almost romantic view of the academy, rooted in […] … learn more→

Late on the afternoon of July 3, as San Franciscans were preparing for a four-day holiday weekend, the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, which accredits two-year institutions in California, dropped a bombshell. The commission announced that it was revoking its accreditation of City College […] … learn more→

Historians of this period, possessing the clearsightedness that only time provides, will likely point to online learning as the disruptive technology platform that radically changed higher education, which had remained largely unchanged since the cathedral schools of medieval Europe — football, beer pong and food courts notwithstanding. Online learning is already well-understood, well-established and well-respected […] … learn more→