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The accreditation database is brought to you by the U.S. Department of Education’s
Office of Postsecondary Education. Each of the postsecondary educational institutions
and programs contained within the database is, or was, accredited by an accrediting
agency or state approval agency recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education as
a “reliable authority as to the quality of postsecondary education” within the meaning
of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA). The database does not include
a number of postsecondary educational institutions and programs that elect not to
seek accreditation but nevertheless may provide a quality postsecondary education.
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The goal of accreditation is to ensure that education provided by institutions of
higher education meets acceptable levels of quality. Accrediting agencies, which
are private educational associations of regional or national scope, develop evaluation
criteria and conduct peer evaluations to assess whether or not those criteria are
met. Institutions and/or programs that request an agency's evaluation and that meet
an agency's criteria are then "accredited" by that agency.
The U.S. Department of
Education does not accredit educational institutions and/or programs. However, the
Secretary of Education is required by law to publish a list of nationally recognized
accrediting agencies that the Secretary determines to be reliable authorities as
to the quality of education or training provided by the institutions of higher education
and the higher education programs they accredit. The U.S. Secretary of Education
also recognizes State agencies for the approval of public postsecondary vocational
education and State agencies for the approval of nurse education.
The Secretary
of Education’s recognition of accrediting agencies is limited by statute to accreditation
activities within the United States. Although many recognized agencies carry out
accrediting activities outside the United States, these actions are not within the
legal authority of the Department of Education to recognize, are not reviewed by
the Department, and the Department does not exercise any oversight over them. Consequently,
institutions and programs outside the United States that are accredited by recognized
agencies are not included in the U.S. Department of Education Database of Accredited
Postsecondary Institutions and Programs.
The U.S. Department of Education recommends
that the database be used as one source of qualitative information and that additional
sources of qualitative information be consulted. The database is compiled entirely
from publicly available information obtained by the U.S. Department of Education
from recognized accrediting agencies and state approval agencies. The U.S. Department
of Education cannot, therefore, guarantee that the information contained in the
database is accurate, current, or complete.
The U.S. Department of Education will
periodically update the database to reflect additional information the Department
receives from recognized accrediting agencies and state approval agencies but makes
no guarantee that the database will be updated immediately upon receipt of such
information.
The database is provided as a public service without warranty of any
kind. The database does not constitute an endorsement by the U.S. Department of
Education of any of the educational institutions or programs. If you experience
problems with the Institutional Accreditation System, contact the help desk at AccreditedSchoolsList@westat.com
or 1-888-247-8269.
For more information on accreditation in the United States, please
visit: http://www.ed.gov/admins/finaid/accred/index.html.
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