Institutional and Programmatic Accreditation Reporting

Statement of Purpose

To ensure compliance with SACSCOC Standard 14.4, the University must represent itself accurately and consistently to all accrediting bodies. The Provost’s Office has established a standardized process for representing Wake Forest University’s accreditation status to all recognized accrediting agencies. It ensures timely internal and external notification of any changes in accreditation status to maintain institutional integrity and centralizes accreditation documentation to prevent discrepancies in institutional and program-level reporting. The process applies to all academic schools, departments, and programs that hold, or seek to hold, accreditation from U.S. Department of Education (USDOE) recognized accrediting agencies (https://ope.ed.gov/dapip/#/home).

Responsibilities

General Principles of Representation

The University shall represent itself accurately, consistently, and honestly to all accrediting agencies. The Office of Institutional Research (OIR) serves as the central repository for the University’s official letters of accreditation to ensure consistency across all institutional and program-level reports.

1. Responsibilities of Academic Units (Schools/Programs) Academic units maintaining program-level accreditation must adhere to the following:

• Reporting of Review Outcomes: Within 30 days of the completion of a formal review or receipt of an official decision letter, the Dean or Program Director must provide the OIR with documentation confirming the unit’s accreditation status.
• Mandatory Notification of Adverse Actions: Any school or program that receives an adverse judgment (including, but not limited to, probation, monitoring, show-cause orders, or revocation of accreditation) must notify the Provost’s Office and the OIR immediately—and no later than 48 hours—upon receipt of the notification.
• Data Consistency: When referring to the University’s status with its institutional accreditor (e.g., SACSCOC), units must use the language provided by the OIR  (see https://bulletin.wfu.edu/university/accreditation) in all self-studies and external review documents to ensure the University’s accreditation status is described accurately and consistently.

2. Responsibilities of the Office of Institutional Research (OIR) To support institutional compliance, the OIR shall:

• Maintain a Central Registry: The OIR will maintain an internal Registry of Professional Accreditation that contains the most current official decision letters from academic units maintaining program-level accreditation and the University’s institutional accreditor (SACSCOC).
• Maintain a Public WFU Accreditation Website listing
  1. All external accrediting bodies.
  2. The date of the most recent review/site visit.
  3. The anticipated date of the next review.
• Institutional Documentation Support: The OIR will provide academic units with official documentation of the University’s institutional accreditation status (SACSCOC) for use in their programmatic accreditation dossiers.
• Institutional-Level Reporting: The OIR, in coordination with the Provost, is responsible for informing all relevant USDOE-recognized agencies of any changes in the University’s institutional accreditation status or public sanctions. The OIR is also responsible for submitting to SACSCOC any changes in program accreditation status.  

3. Resources

• U.S. Department of Education’s Database of Accredited Postsecondary Institutions and Programs – https://ope.ed.gov/dapip/#/home
• SACSCOC Accrediting Standards and Resource Manual – https://sacscoc.org/accrediting-standards/
• WFU Accreditation website – https://bulletin.wfu.edu/university/accreditation/