Does College Accreditation Work? Other means of tracking university performance are superior.

James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal ^ | July 28, 2023 | Richard K. Vedder

[karpov]

When you buy a car, a piece of furniture, or a pleasure boat, you typically don’t ask the seller, “Is the manufacturer accredited?” We buy all kinds of things, even houses, despite no third party assessing the quality or integrity of the good or service being sold. Why do we behave differently with higher education?

Informal higher-ed assessments abound. U.S. News, Forbes, Washington Monthly, the Wall Street Journal, and others assess the quality and reputation of colleges, and those judgments are eagerly read by the public. (I know, as one who formerly directed one of those rankings.) The federal government (belatedly) provides useful consumer information to prospective customers with its College Scorecard, which contains graduation rates, postgraduate earnings by major, and other useful data.

With all of this, why do we need “accreditors”?

Although accreditors were once considered a means of identifying diploma mills and other shady operators, most of their original functions are now well provided by other organizations that engage in educational assessment.

I have a radical view of accreditation. Rather than a vital protector of the public, accrediting agencies are cartels—legalized monopolies—trying to maximize the influence or incomes of accredited colleges with little regard for consumers, taxpayers (who ultimately fund much of higher education), or the broader public interest.

Below, I enumerate nine problems with accreditation that are often emphasized. I then discuss a newer, even more ominous threat and conclude that collegiate institutional accreditation as we know it should end.

[taxcontrol]

One of the reasons I selected Western Governors University for my college was their use of industry certifications to pass classes. While there were some classes that did follow the lecture / term paper format, the highly technical classes required passage of the appropriate test.

Want to pass the Network class? You have to pass the CCNA test. Want to pass the course on hacking? You have to pass the Certified Ethical Hacker exam / certification test.

Seemed like a better option to graduate the program AND have several certifications when you hit the job market.

[Hodar]

In industry, we do Supplier Audits and conduct Supplier Inspections EVERY YEAR to keep them on our lists of Approved Vendors

You don’t manage a Supply Chain by buying subcomponents (tape, glue, chemicals, lubes, gears, etc) from anyone who presents a low bid. This isn’t a very hard subject to research. It’s basic in any Quality Organization structure

I question the authors knowledge on this subject

[mbj]

Using certifications based on skills testing does seem like it would be a better system than accreditation, because so many universities offer meaningless courses that provide skills relevant to neither gainful employment nor good citizenship.

While this article applies specifically to the lower education system, the risks are similar even in the universities:

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2023/jul/27/public-schools-fast-track-teacher-credentials-fill/

The fact that a high percentage of scientific papers contain falsifications suggests we have a serious problem, one that is probably already affecting our global competitiveness. If we didn’t have so many skilled foreigners immigrating, it’s very likely our country would suffer financial consequences for this ineptitude and poor judgment.

Maybe what would help would be a system that provides a blended score of the percentage of graduates that have jobs within two years, the graduates average starting salaries and some estimate of the dollar value of the research that the university develops. Or maybe don’t blend the score: just offer separate scores in each category and let people make their own assessments.