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Academic Quality Improvement Program
Accreditation is the formal process by which colleges and universities are authorized to award college credit and degrees. Santa Fe Community College has been accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) of the North Central Association (NCA) of Colleges and Schools since 1983, and its accreditation was last renewed in 2002.
AQIP (Academic Quality Improvement Program) refreshes the traditional approach to accreditation by asking that member institutions base their operations -- from helping students learn to valuing people - in quality systems. Quality, in this context, means continuous quality improvement - the employment of a specific cycle of problem-solving techniques developed from Baldrige principles:
- Plan: use evidence to ensure that you understand the problem or the system you're approaching
- Do: pilot a solution to the problem, based on what you learned in the Plan cycle
- Check: study how well your solution is working
- Act: modify your solution as necessary, and enter the cycle of continuous improvement through repeated monitoring of effectiveness
The AQIP Systems Portfolio is a comprehensive accreditation document that describes SFCC's processes and progress in the nine AQIP categories:
- Helping Students Learn
- Accomplishing Other Distinctive Objectives
- Understanding Students' and Other Stakeholders' Needs
- Valuing People
- Leading and Communicating
- Supporting Institutional Operations
- Measuring Effectiveness
- Planning Continuous Improvement
- Building Collaborative Relationships
The Systems Appraisal, of which the Portfolio is a part, includes comprehensive feedback from AQIP, which the college will receive in October of 2011.
SFCC was accepted as an AQIP institution in the fall of 2007, and has implemented several AQIP Action Projects; the college submitted its first AQIP Systems Portfolio in June 2011.
The AQIP Steering Committee oversees the Action Project selection process; monitors progress and provides mentoring for Action Project leaders; crafts, reviews and updates the AQIP Systems Portfolio; and communicates to the broader campus community about all things AQIP.
For more information, please contact Karen Luper, Director of Assessment and Accreditation, 505-428-1605 , karen.luper@sfcc.edu.
Learn more about SFCC and AQIP: