granted to each of the listed accrediting bodies will also be listed.

(20 U.S.C. 1141(a))

§ 603.4 Inclusion on list.

Any accrediting agency or association which desires to be listed by the Secretary as meeting the criteria set forth in § 603.6 should apply in writing to the Director, Division of Eligibility and Agency Evaluation, Office of Postsecondary Education, Department of Education, Washington, D.C. 20202.

(20 U.S.C. 1141(a))

[45 FR 86300, Dec. 30, 1980]

§ 603.5 Initial recognition, and renewal of recognition.

(a) For initial recognition and for renewal of recognition, the accrediting agency or association will furnish information establishing its compliance with the criteria set forth in § 603.6. This information may be supplemented by personal interviews or by review of the agency's facilities, records, personnel qualifications, and administrative management. Each agency listed will be reevaluated by the Secretary at his discretion, but at least once every four years. No adverse decision will become final without affording opportunity for a hearing.

(b) In view of the criteria set forth in § 603.6, it is unlikely that more than one association or agency will qualify for recognition (1) in a defined geographical area of jurisdiction or (2) in a defined field of program specialization within secondary or postsecondary education. If two or more separate organizations in a defined field do seek recognition, they will both be expected to demonstrate need for their activities and show that they collaborate closely so that their accrediting activities do not unduly disrupt the affected institution or program.

(20 U.S.C. 1141(a))

§ 603.6 Criteria.

In requesting designation by the Secretary as a nationally recognized accrediting agency or association, an accrediting agency or association must show:

(a) Functional aspects. Its functional aspects will be demonstrated by:

(1) Its scope of operations:

(i) The agency or association is national or regional in its scope of operations.

(ii) The agency or association clearly defines in its charter, by-laws or accrediting standards the scope of its activities, including the geographical area and the types, and levels of institutions or programs covered.

(2) Its organization:

(i) The agency or association has the administrative personnel and procedures to carry out its operations in a timely and effective manner.

(ii) The agency or association defines its fiscal needs, manages its expenditures, and has adequate financial resources to carry out its operations, as shown by an externally audited financial statement.

(iii) The agency's or association's fees, if any, for the accreditation process do not exceed the reasonable cost of sustaining and improving the proc

ess.

(iv) The agency or association uses competent and knowledgeable persons, qualified by experience and training, and selects such persons in accordance with nondiscriminatory practices:

(A) To participate on visiting evaluation teams; (B) to engage in consultative services for the evaluation and accreditation process; and (C) to serve on policy and decision-making bodies.

(v) The agency or association includes on each visiting evaluation team at least one person who is not a member of its policy or decisionmaking body or its administrative staff.

(3) Its procedures: (i) The agency or association maintains clear definitions of each level of accreditation status and has clearly written procedures for granting, denying, reaffirming, revoking, and reinstating such accredited statuses.

(ii) The agency or association, if it has developed a preaccreditation status, provides for the application of criteria and procedures that are related in an appropriate manner to those employed for accreditation.

(iii) The agency or association requires, as an integral part of its ac

crediting process, institutional or program self-analysis and an on-site review by a visiting team.

(A) The self-analysis shall be a qualitative assessment of the strengths and limitations of the institution or program, including the achievement of institutional or program objectives, and should involve a representative portion of the institution's administrative staff, teaching faculty, students, governing body, and other appropriate constituencies.

(B) The agency or association provides written and consultative guidance to the institution or program and to the visiting team.

(b) Responsibility. Its responsibility will be demonstrated by the way in which

(1) Its accreditation in the field in which it operates serves clearly identified needs, as follows:

(i) The agency's or association's accreditation program takes into account the rights, responsibilities, and interests of students, the general public, the academic, professional, or occupational fields involved, and institutions.

(ii) The agency's or association's purposes and objectives are clearly defined in its charter, by-laws, or accrediting standards.

(2) It is responsive to the public interest, in that:

(i) The agency or association includes representatives of the public in its policy and decision-making bodies, or in an advisory or consultative capacity that assures attention by the policy and decision-making bodies.

(ii) The agency or association publishes or otherwise makes publicly available:

(A) The standards by which institutions or programs are evaluated;

(B) The procedures utilized in arriving at decisions regarding the accreditation status of an institution or program;

(C) The current accreditation status of institutions or programs and the date of the next currently scheduled review or reconsideration of accreditation;

(D) The names and affiliations of members of its policy and decision

making bodies, and the name(s) of its principal administrative personnel;

(E) A description of the ownership, control and type of legal organization of the agency or association.

(iii) The agency or association provides advance notice of proposed or revised standards to all persons, institutions, and organizations significantly affected by its accrediting process, and provides such persons, institutions and organizations adequate opportunity to comment on such standards prior to their adoption.

(iv) The agency or association has written procedures for the review of complaints pertaining to institutional or program quality, as these relate to the agency's standards, and demonstrates that such procedures are adequate to provide timely treatments of such complaints in a manner that is fair and equitable to the complainant and to the institution or program.

(3) It assures due process in its accrediting procedures, as demonstrated in part by:

(i) Affording initial evaluation of the institutions or programs only when the chief executive officer of the institution applies for accreditation of the institution or any of its programs;

(ii) Providing for adequate discussion during an on-site visit between the visiting team and the faculty, administrative staff, students, and other appropriate persons;

(iii) Furnishing, as a result of an evaluation visit, a written report to the institution or program commenting on areas of strengths, areas needing improvement and, when appropriate, suggesting means of improvement and including specific areas, if any, where the institution or program may not be in compliance with the agency's standards;

(iv) Providing the chief executive officer of the institution or program with an opportunity to comment upon the written report and to file supplemental materials pertinent to the facts and conclusions in the written report of the visiting team before the accrediting agency or association takes action on the report;

(v) Evaluating, when appropriate, the report of the visiting team in the

presence of a member of the team, preferably the chairman;

(vi) Providing for the withdrawal of accreditation only for cause, after review, or when the institution or program does not permit reevaluation, after due notice;

(vii) Providing the chief executive officer of the institution with a specific statement of reasons for any adverse accrediting action, and notice of the right to appeal such action;

(viii) Establishing and implementing published rules of procedure regarding appeals which will provide for:

(A) No change in the accreditation status of the institution or program pending disposition of an appeal;

(B) Right to a hearing before the appeal body;

(C) Supplying the chief executive officer of the institution with a written decision of the appeal body, including a statement of specifics.

(4) It has demonstrated capability and willingness to foster ethical practices among the institutions or programs which it accredits, including equitable student tuition refunds and nondiscriminatory practices in admissions and employment.

(5) It maintains a program of evaluation of its educational standards designed to assess their validity and reliability.

(6) It secures sufficient qualitative information regarding the institution or program which shows an on-going program evaluation of outputs consistent with the educational goals of the institution or program.

(7) It encourages experimental and innovative programs to the extent that these are conceived and implemented in a manner which ensures the quality and integrity of the institution or program.

(8) It accredits only those institutions or programs which meet its published standards, and demonstrates that its standards, policies, and procedures are fairly applied and that its evaluations are conducted and decisions rendered under conditions that assure an impartial and objective judgment.

(9) It reevaluates at reasonable intervals institutions or programs which it has accredited.

(10) It requires that any reference to its accreditation of accredited institutions and programs clearly specifies the areas and levels for which accreditation has been received.

(c) Reliability. Its reliability is demonstrated by

(1) Acceptance throughout the United States of its policies, evaluation methods, and decisions by educators, educational institutions, licensing bodies, practitioners, and employers;

(2) Regular review of its standards, policies and procedures, in order that the evaluative process shall support constructive analysis, emphasize factors of critical importance, and reflect the educational and training needs of the student;

(3) Not less than two years' experience as an accrediting agency or association;

(4) Reflection in the composition of its policy and decisionmaking bodies of the community of interests directly affected by the scope of its accreditation..

(d) Autonomous. Its automony is demonstrated by evidence that—

(1) It performs no function that would be inconsistent with the formation of an independent judgment of the quality of an educational program or institution;

(2) It provides in its operating procedures against conflict of interest in the rendering of its judgments and decisions.

§ 603.24 Criteria for State agencies.

The following are the criteria which the Secretary will utilize in designating a State agency as a reliable authority to assess the quality of public postsecondary vocational education in its respective State.

(a) Functional aspects. The functional aspects of the State agency must be shown by:

(1) Its scope of operations. The agency:

(i) Is statewide in the scope of its operations and is legally authorized to approve public postsecondary vocational institutions or programs;

(ii) Clearly sets forth the scope of its objectives and activities, both as to kinds and levels of public postsecondary vocational institutions or programs covered, and the kinds of operations performed;

(iii) Delineates the process by which it differentiates among and approves programs of varying levels.

(2) Its organization. The State agency:

(i) Employs qualified personnel and uses sound procedures to carry out its operations in a timely and effective manner;

(ii) Receives adequate and timely financial support, as shown by its appropriations, to carry out its operations;

(iii) Selects competent and knowledgeable persons, qualified by experience and training, and selects such persons in accordance with nondiscriminatory practices, (A) to participate on visiting teams, (B) to engage in consultative services for the evaluation and approval process, and (C) to serve on decision-making bodies.

(3) Its procedures. The State agency: (i) Maintains clear definitions of approval status and has developed written procedures for granting, reaffirming, revoking, denying, and reinstating approval status;

(ii) Requires, as an integral part of the approval and reapproval process, institutional or program self-analysis and onsite reviews by visiting teams, and provides written and consultative guidance to institutions or programs and visiting teams.

(A) Self-analysis shall be a qualitative assessment of the strengths and limitations of the instructional program, including the achievement of institutional or program objectives, and should involve a representative portion of the institution's administrative staff, teaching faculty, students, governing body, and other appropriate constituencies.

(B) The visiting team, which includes qualified examiners other than agency staff, reviews instructional content, methods and resources, administrative management, student services, and facilities. It prepares written reports and recommendations for use by the State agency.

(iii) Reevaluates at reasonable and regularly scheduled intervals institutions or programs which it has approved.

(b) Responsibility and reliability. The responsibility and reliability of the State agency will be demonstrated by:

(1) Its responsiveness to the public interest. The State agency:

(i) Has an advisory body which provides for representation from public employment services and employers, employees, postsecondary vocational educators, students, and the general public, including minority

groups.

Among its functions, this structure provides counsel to the State agency relating to the development of standards, operating procedures and policy, and interprets the educational needs and manpower projections of the State's public postsecondary vocational education system;

(ii) Demonstrates that the advisory body makes a real and meaningful contribution to the approval process;

(iii) Provides advance public notice of proposed or revised standards or regulations through its regular channels of communications, supplemented, if necessary, with direct communication to inform interested members of the affected community. In addition, it provides such persons the opportunity to comment on the standards or regulations prior to their adoption;

(iv) Secures sufficient qualitative information regarding the applicant institution or program to enable the in

stitution or program to demonstrate that it has an ongoing program of evaluation of outputs consistent with its educational goals;

(v) Encourages experimental and innovative programs to the extent that these are conceived and implemented in a manner which ensures the quality and integrity of the institution or program;

(vi) Demonstrates that it approves only those institutions or programs which meet its published standards; that its standards, policies, and procedures are fairly applied; and that its evaluations are conducted and decisions are rendered under conditions that assure an impartial and objective judgment;

(vii) Regularly reviews its standards, policies and procedures in order that the evaluative process shall support constructive analysis, emphasize factors of critical importance, and reflect the educational and training needs of the student;

(viii) Performs no function that would be inconsistent with the formation of an independent judgment of the quality of an educational institution or program;

(ix) Has written procedures for the review of complaints pertaining to institutional or program quality as these relate to the agency's standards, and demonstrates that such procedures are adequate to provide timely treatment of such complaints in a manner fair and equitable to the complainant and to the institution or program;

(x) Annually makes available to the public (A) its policies for approval, (B) reports of its operations, and (C) list of institutions or programs which it has approved;

(xi) Requires each approved school or program to report on changes instituted to determine continued compliance with standards or regulations;

(xii) Confers regularly with counterpart agencies that have similar responsibilities in other and neighboring States about methods and techniques that may be used to meet those responsibilities.

(2) Its assurances that due process is accorded to institutions or programs seeking approval. The State agency: