Paper Example on Accreditation Process

Introduction

The accreditation process involves a voluntary analysis of a facility to determine if it is fit to offer certain courses and other services. The process is voluntary and colleges are not required to be accredited by law. The first type of accreditation for the facility is the institutional accreditation. It is given to the schools or institutions that meet the standards set by the accrediting organizations. The educational, administrative and other related services in the institution have to be as per the standards set by the organizations. It is supposed to show that a college offers high-quality operations and it is an indication that the overall conditions in the school are reliable to offer the services that are needed by the students. The other type needed by the institution will be professional, specialized and programmatic accreditation and it refers to the indication that the different specialized departments in the college are fit to offer the services and that the college, school or facility can offer quality services in nursing, law, engineering, and education among others. The difference between the two is that institutional accreditation looks at the entire institution and the specialized accreditation looks at the different departments and facilities within the institution (Garfolo & L'Huillier, 2015). The new facility will need to get the two types of accreditation to attract adequate numbers of customers.

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The regional accreditation is also important to the new facility and this one looks at the entire institution to determine its ability to offer the intended services. It is renewed annually and stakeholders consider an institution that has been given this accreditation as among the most reliable ones in providing education services. It is done in six regions in the United States. The other one is the national accreditation and it also analyzes the institutions in its entirety. Once the new facility gets all these accreditations, it will operate more profitably because more people will trust in its operations. It will also show that the new facility can be used for federal and state financial aid programs. It will also be fit for most of the graduate programs and transfer of credit.

Importance of the Accreditation

The accreditation is a useful way of indicating the standard of services that the institution offers. One of the most important reasons for the accreditation is that it helps to get financial aid from the federal and state governments and also to get tuition reimbursement from employers once people get jobs. When joining the graduate programs, one of the qualifications is to have been in an accredited undergraduate school for the undergraduate course. If the school attended for the undergraduate course was not credited, it is difficult to get enrolled in the graduate programs. The other one is that it increases the chances of becoming licensed after finishing the studies. For the students who attend the accredited colleges, they are licensed after their studies but for those who attend colleges that are not accredited, they may not get the license to operate professionally. The other importance is that it attracts more people. The new facility will attract more people if it is accredited. Lastly, the employers look for people who went to facilities that have accreditation from national and regional organizations and this makes it an important factor for the facility (Knight, 2015). Graduates will find it easy to get jobs in the job market.

Time for the Accreditation Process

The accreditation process follows certain steps and reaches of these steps take different time limits. The first step is the preparation and self-assessment. The step involves preparing all materials that indicate the accomplishments of the institution and how they have achieved the different expectations of the accrediting organizations. The stage includes a preparation of a written report that can be referred to by the accrediting organization and it highlights all specific achievements of the facility that met the standards required. The second step is peer review done by the faculty and department heads to determine if the prepared reports are good enough and if the working conditions and the way the facility operates. The third stage is visit and examination and this involves a team of experts who are sent by the accrediting organization to assess if the report reflects the true image of the facility. The team is usually made up of experts from different fields and volunteers from the public.

The other step is making of the decisions and it involves analyzing the data available and determining if the facility deserves to be accredited or not. The decisions are made after negotiations among the experts in the organization. The last step is continuous review and it involves sustaining the standards and making frequent submissions for the renewal of the accreditation. The table below shows the possible time taken to achieve this accreditation:

Resources Required

The accreditation process of the facility will require human resources to be as per the standards set by the organization, the facility should have adequate resources to be used in other education processes. The human resources in the facility should be trained and qualified in a way that they can offer the services required. They should also work as a team because this increases the chances for accreditation (Hochhauser, Khashab, Baba & Khoury, 2018). The reading materials and conducive infrastructure should also be available during the process. The facility should have adequate security and first aid resources. The money will also be required to achieve these conditions effectively. A fully equipped lap should also be available for the case of nurses and other science courses.

Costs

The accreditation process will require money and the costs will be distributed as below:

The above costs are likely to change with time because of the changes in prices in the market. The initial costs of setting up the facility, which includes the building, the painting and other costs of setting up the facility are estimated to be $25,000.

Conclusions and Comments

Accreditation of the facility requires all features for the facility to be up to the standards of the accrediting organizations. The conditions in the new facility require to be prepared using the national and international conditions of nursing. The management should be ready to make changes in any of the parts that the accrediting organization will suggest. For example, if the organization suggests an expansion of the laboratories and increased aeration in the classrooms, the changes should be made within the time that the accreditation process will be done. The first comment is that Dr. Strong is a qualified and experienced doctor who can offer guidance on how to meet the new conditions. However, it is important to create a team to provide more ideas about the process. The mission, vision, goals and expected outcomes of the accreditation process should be made clear to the stakeholders (Sakai et al., 2015). The challenges expected in this process is inadequate resources and low motivation of the employees. Inadequate knowledge may also be a challenge to the process.

In conclusion, the accreditation of the facility will attract more people and it will give it a good reputation among its peers. The conditions in which the accreditation will be done as per the national and regional accreditation standards. The services offered in the new facility will be as per the expected levels and the graduates will qualify for the federal and state financial aids. To maintain the new standards, the facility will require to refresh and train the employees and to set the working procedures that will ensure the quality of the services. The annual reviews will be done with the help of hired experts. The challenges of accreditation can be reduced through research on the ways to meet the standards and also through a continuous update of the processes uses in the facility. The new facility will also increase the trust that people have on the facility and it will give many people a chance to be licensed after their education.

References

Garfolo, B. T., & L'Huillier, B. (2015). Demystifying Assessment: The Road to Accreditation. Journal of College Teaching & Learning, 12(3), 151-170.

Hochhauser, M., Khashab, K., Baba, N., & Khoury, A. (2018). ACCREDITATION IN HOSPITALS: ATTITUDES AND SATISFACTION OF STAFF MEMBERS FROM THE PROCESS. Harefuah, 157(6), 383-387.

Knight, J. (2015). The international race for accreditation. International Higher Education, (40).

Sakai, D. H., Kasuya, R. T., Fong, S. F., Kaneshiro, R. A., Kramer, K., Omori, J., ... & Hedges, J. (2015). Medical School Hotline: Liaison Committee on Medical Education Accreditation: Part I: The Accreditation Process. Hawai'i Journal of Medicine & Public Health, 74(9), 311.