The 2005-06 school year will be extra busy for the university.
On top of a new provost and president, and wrapping up liberal arts reconstruction, MSU officials will seek re-accreditation from the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement.
The group gives accreditation to colleges and high schools in the Midwest that allows the schools to receive federal financial aid. The commission gives accreditation every 10 years and MSU last received accreditation in 1995.
A team of MSU officials has been working for several months preparing information and data about the university. A team from the commission will visit MSU to complete its evaluations sometime in the 2005-06 school year.
The first required part of the accreditation deals with the number of students and tuition and research dollars, said John Hudzik, dean of International Studies and Programs and recommended acting provost beginning Jan. 1.
This year MSU was allowed to add a new component to the accreditation, a self-study where the university officials are focusing on internationalization and its role at MSU. The colleges in the Big Ten were offered the option.
"Because we are a large, complex research university, we are allowed to not just do the compliance piece, but they have allowed us to do a self-study where we could choose something that we are doing in a particular area," said June Youatt, assistant provost for undergraduate education.
Hudzik said committees have been set up to focus on the internationalization part of the accreditation. The committee has been interviewing people involved in international programs and gathering institutional data that pertains to internationalization, such as what kind of degree programs students are taking and what kind of research faculty are involved in abroad.
Hudzik said much of the information has already been collected by those involved in the international programs and has been formatted to the North Central standards.
"We're looking at what is Michigan State doing to internationalize across the mission," Hudzik said. "We'll also be looking at the teaching curriculum and how the university has progressed towards that objective and where we are taking this organization in the future. How are we holding ourselves accountable?"
Oumatie Marajh, coordinator for the North Central self-study, said the idea of internationalization on campus goes beyond just sending students on study abroad.
"Students who don't go on study abroad still have the opportunity to interact with faculty who have worked in other countries," Marajh said.
Youatt said MSU officials hope the information they get back from the accreditation team and their own work will improve internationalization at MSU
President-designate Lou Anna Simon said because the university is "above the minimum standard," they decided to do the self-study so the university can find out where it needs to improve with providing internationalism in education.
"It's a way of taking something that's required and making it useful to the university," Simon said.
Hudzik said he agreed that although most large universities don't lose accreditation, the process is still beneficial to officials.
"MSU is a good place, but almost every accreditation review points out strengths and weaknesses," he said.
