CHEA Issues a Statement in Response to Executive Order Targeting Accreditors
HEADLINES
Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) Issues a Statement in Response to Executive Order Targeting Accreditors (CHEA.org, April 23, 2025) The Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) President Dr. Jackson Hammond has issued a statement in response to the White House Executive Order issued on April 23, 2025, focused on the elimination of long-standing accreditation requirements, key to higher education quality standards, which affect the value and independence of accreditation and the recognition of accrediting organizations.
MBA Accreditation: What It Is and Why It’s Important (Yahoo Finance, April 21, 2025) MBA accreditation is a process that evaluates the quality of education a college, university, or specific program offers its students. This means that schools and programs that are properly accredited are best positioned to prepare students for a career in their field of study. Regional accreditation measures a school’s academic quality, faculty, and student services against the standards for that area. Without regional accreditation, schools may not qualify for federal funding, and their credits may not transfer to accredited schools. Regional accreditation depends entirely on the school’s location. The Council for Higher Education Accreditation recognizes six graduate-focused accreditation agencies across the country to evaluate the schools in their respective regions.
Indiana Higher Education Commission Implements Reacher Preparation Improvement Plans (Citizen Portal, April 17, 2025) The Indiana House Legislation introduced House Bill 1634, aimed at enhancing the quality of Reacher Preparation Programs across the state. The bill seeks to address concerns regarding the effectiveness of these programs in equipping future educators with essential skills, particularly in reading and math instruction. The bill stipulates that the Department of Education must approve at least two accrediting bodies recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation to oversee the accreditation of teacher preparation programs in Indiana.
AGB Report Points to the Top Public Policy Issues for Governing Boards (Inside Higher Ed, April 17, 2025) Concerns about the Trump administration’s plans for higher ed loom large in a new report by the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges, outlining the top public policy issues facing higher ed governing boards. According to the report, boards could confront a wide range of issues in the 2025–26 academic year, including federal research funding cuts impacting university budgets, uncertainties about the future of federal financial aid, possible changes to the accreditation system, federal interference into institutional governance and shifting immigration policies affecting international student admissions and faculty hiring.
Bill Aiming to Stop Accreditors from Targeting Law-Abiding State Universities Heads to Governor (Bellevue Herald-Leader, April 17, 2025) The Iowa Senate has sent a bill to Gov. Kim Reynolds’s desk that would bar penalization from accreditors to universities for following state law, despite concerns from some lawmakers that it would not prevent universities from potentially losing accreditation. The bill also removes mention of the Higher Learning Commission and replaces it with “any federally recognized accreditor of postsecondary educational institutions,” a move Sen. Cindy Winckler, D-Davenport, said could lead to universities choosing lower-quality accreditors and “call into question” students’ degrees. “I think that we are heading down a path that is creating political cover for laws that are being passed that conflict with the gold standards of higher education,” Winckler said.