Systems Portfolios

The Systems Portfolios cover the nine AQIP Categories, describing context, processes, results, and improvement in each system, and shows evidence that the institution continues to meet The Higher Learning Commission's five Criteria for Accreditation.

Systems Portfolios and Systems Appraisals

AQIP calls upon institutions to undergo a Systems Appraisal every four years. This is an opportunity for an institution to get expert, objective, third-party feedback on its strengths and opportunities for improvement. In turn, institutions gain insight in determining the next targets for advancing quality in the institution through Action Projects and other plans.

The Systems Appraisal is based on a Systems Portfolio assembled by the institution during the first four years of its participation in AQIP. The Portfolio presents an overview of the institution, and answers explicitly all of the questions under each of the nine AQIP Categories.

In combination with the Strategy Forum and Action Projects, which drive concrete improvement activities within the institution, the Systems Portfolio and Systems Appraisal are a means of taking stock of the continuous improvement.

Resources for Systems Portfolios

Systems Portfolios Guide

Updated Systems Portfolios Guide incorporating the revised AQIP Categories and Overview questions.

Systems Portfolios and Systems Appraisals

Information about Systems Portfolios and the Systems Appraisal Process

Examples of Systems Portfolios

A list of current Systems Portfolios at AQIP institutions. 

Systems Portfolio Index Template

A Word template for creating the Index to the Commission's Five Criteria for Accreditation within your Systems Portfolio.

Samples of Systems Portfolio Indexes

Eleven-page PDF of Systems Portfolio Indexes.

Self-Evaluation Chart for 2008 Categories

If you are using the newly revised Categories to write your Systems Portfolio, this is the evaluation form to use.

Self-Evaluation Instructions

Instructions on how to self-evaluate your strengths and opportunities within your Systems Portfolio for maximum value from the Systems Appraisal process.

Category Summary Worksheet 2008

New Category Summary worksheet created for use with the revised 2008 Categories.

Category Item Worksheet 2008

New Category Item Worksheet for use with the 2008 revised Categories.

Assembling a Systems Portfolio

The Systems Portfolio will explicate each of the major systems the institution currently employs to accomplish its mission and objectives. Most Systems Portfolios will be web-based hypertext documents, and they may have connections and links to other resources, but a Systems Portfolio itself is limited in length to the equivalent of seventy-five single-spaced pages.

To present its systems, the institution will answer specific questions for each of the nine AQIP Categories. For each system, the questions deal with context for analysis, processes, results, and improvement. The completed Systems Portfolio will be shared, electronically or in print, with all of the institution’s faculty, staff, and administrators and with the public served by the institution.

Once assembled, the Systems Portfolio serves as an up-to-date account of the key systems and processes. The completed Systems Portfolio should effectively supply the institution with a credible, ready-to-use accountability report for all constituencies interested in institutional performance—specialized accrediting agencies, state regulators, funding and grant agencies, voters, legislators, and various public groups.

The Systems Portfolio also serves as a common ground for internal discussions of where and how to best direct efforts for improvement. If dissention and conflict now result from differing perceptions of where current strengths and opportunities lie, having a shared, believable foundation for discussion can be invaluable. The Systems Portfolio also informs newcomers to the institution—both potential employees and new representatives of critically important stakeholder groups—with a quickly absorbable picture of how the institution works and what it is achieving.

Systems Portfolio Content

The Systems Portfolio consists of an Institutional Overview and sections on each of the nine AQIP Categories. The Institutional Overview presents a picture that helps readers understand the institution's key strengths, ambitions, distinctions, and advantages, and explains the challenges, competitors, contests, and conflicts. It provides a context for appreciating the institution’s choices and decisions as readers learn more about the systems, processes, and performance.

Because of the central importance of educational design and delivery processes, the Helping Students Learn section will occupy twice the space of any of the other eight Categories in the Portfolio. Approximately five pages of the total text should be devoted to the Overview, and no more than seventy to the nine Categories.

If an institution hasn’t yet developed a systematic approach to an area covered by a particular Category (e.g., Building Collaborative Relationships), or if it believes the questions do not apply to it or are unanswerable, strategies for responding may be found by joining the Systems Portfolios Forum. Within the AQIP Forum, those working on Portfolios can share their experience, insights, and questions.

In combination with other information, the Systems Portfolio will provide the basic information AQIP needs to review the institution and assure the public of its quality. The fact that the Systems Portfolio is shared openly with faculty, staff, and administrators helps guarantee its accuracy and veracity.

Indexing Systems Portfolios to Show Compliance with the Accreditation Criteria

To help document that an institution meets HLC’s Criteria for Accreditation, an AQIP institution needs to provide an index to the five Criteria for Accreditation along with the Systems Portfolio. This separate index will allow AQIP’s Systems Appraisal team to efficiently review the evidence of continued compliance with the Commission’s Criteria for Accreditation.

AQIP has designed a Systems Portfolio Index Template. This template lists the five Criteria for Accreditation and the Core Components under each Criterion. All you need to do is add your four or five bullets under each Core Component and the bracketed reference to the Systems Portfolio question where the evidence for each bullet appears. When you’ve completed the index, e-mail the file to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , making the subject of your e-mail "Portfolio Index."