Saipan Tribune

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Monday, February 11, 2013

NMC waits for ACCJC's decision on accreditation

The Northern Marianas is awaiting the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges' decision on whether to reaffirm or revoke the college's accreditation with the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.

NMC president Sharon Y. Hart, Ph.D., provided two reports to the ACCJC in December. Based on Hart's report to the Board of Regents last week, one report was to correct errors while the second report outlined the progress NMC has made in addressing the recommendations of the evaluation team that visited the campus in October 2012.

Saipan Tribune learned that the college also submitted two reports to WASC in December-one to correct errors found in the October visit report and the other was a response to the recommendations outlined in WASC's reaffirmation report.

In early January, regents chair Juan Lizama and Hart met with the ACCJC commission in San Francisco, California where the president delivered a verbal report to commission members. at the same occasion, both Lizama and Hart responded to questions by commission members.

The commission will issue its decision anytime this month.

The college's accreditation was among the matters discussed by the Board of Regents during an executive session last week.

Due to the existing two-year rule imposed by the U.S. Department of Education, NMC's accreditation will likely be revoked if the commission finds that the college failed to rectify the deficiencies it identified in its recommendation report.

Based on the U.S. Department of Education's mandate, a college or university must meet all standards of the accreditation within the two years of receiving a sanction of “probation” or “warning.” NMC was given these statuses in the last six years.

NMC was placed on continued probation in 2010. Based on two-year rule of USDOE, NMC has to meet all standards by 2012 or its accreditation will be terminated.

NMC has been accredited by the ACCJC since 1985.

Among the recurring deficiencies found at the college is its inadequate financial resources.