Accreditation

After conducting a comprehensive on-site review of Nevada State College in April 2009, The Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU), one of eight regional accrediting bodies that oversee the educational quality of higher education institutions in the United States, awarded continued recognition of Nevada State College’s Candidacy status. (Candidacy status is the penultimate designation to Full Accreditation status.) The NWCCU evaluation committee praised NSC on its progress towards accreditation standards compliance and offered recommendations for continued improvement. The committee provided the following list of commendations to NSC: 

1. “…manner in which it has fostered the support and appreciation of the community of the City of Henderson and more broadly all of Clark County for providing a new and expanding opportunity for students, especially low income, first generation, and minority students, to pursue a quality higher education in a convenient and pragmatic structure.” (For more information, see the College’s demographic profile.) 
2. “…unwavering efforts to develop an emerging institution and for their commitment to supporting the overall success of their students.” (For more information, see the College’s Campus Master Plan.) 
3. “…making efforts to provide easy access to College courses and campus information via electronic formats. This is especially beneficial given the multiple locations that exist for NSC.” (For more information, see the College’s Online Task Force.) 
4. “…collaboratively drafting and adopting its Standards of Academe within each school to guide the development and expectations of faculty, and for the consistent manner in which it evaluates its full-time and part-time faculty to ensure excellence in teaching and improving faculty performance.” (For more information, see the College’s Standards of Academe.) 
5. “…its ongoing assessment of educational programs leading to program improvement.” (For more information, see the College’s assessment site.) We invite you to read NSC’s self-study reports to better familiarize yourself with our overall mission and day-to-day operations.
   NWCCU’s next on-site evaluation of Nevada State College is scheduled for Spring 2011.

• NSC Self Study 2009 (PDF)
  Filesize: 6 MB

Path to Accreditation

Generally, the path to Full Accreditation status for new institutions of higher education is a 10-year exercise that begins with an institution submitting an application for candidacy to its accrediting agency. In 2004, Nevada State College – together with the University of Nevada, Reno as NSC’s sponsoring institution – submitted an extensive application for consideration for candidacy to the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU). The NWCCU, a non-profit agency recognized by the Department of Education, oversees the performance of colleges and universities in seven states: Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington.

In July 2006, following a comprehensive self-study and on-site evaluation, the NWCCU approved NSC as a Candidate for accreditation.

As part of the overall pathway to full institutional accreditation or renewal of accreditation (which takes place every ten years once an institution is fully accredited), colleges and universities conduct self-evaluations in preparation for on-site visits by the accreditors. These evaluations are designed to summarize an institution’s improvement and performance based on accrediting organizations’ standards.

NWCCU evaluates an institution’s performance in nine areas (termed “standards” according to the accrediting body). They are: 

• Institutional Mission & Goals, Planning & Effectiveness 
• Educational Program and Its Effectiveness 
• Students 
• Facility 
• Library and Information Resources 
• Governance & Administration 
• Finance 
• Physical Resources 
• Institutional Integrity