Comprehensive Evaluation Visit

Comprehensive evaluations include an on-site visit by a peer review team to verify that the claims made by the institution in its submitted materials are accurate. Visits typically last 1 1/2 days. The team will remain in the area for an additional day of deliberations after the visit.

Note: Institutions are responsible for expenses related to the peer review team visit. These typically include travel, honoraria and facility expenses for the team members. HLC will send the institution an invoice for the visit.

Appointing the Peer Review Team

Approximately 4–6 months prior to the visit, HLC sets the peer review team and sends the team roster to the institution. When selecting reviewers to serve on the team, HLC staff members consider a variety of institutional factors, including the institution’s size, highest degree level, Carnegie classification, mission and control. The roster provided to the institution includes information about each peer reviewer’s current institutional affiliation and position and areas of professional expertise.

In most cases, the team will include 5–7 peer reviewers, depending on institutional size and complexity. HLC may require a larger team for institutions with multiple academic units, multiple degree levels, corporate or state system relationships, or other complexities. HLC may assign additional reviewers as needed for other reasons based upon particular circumstances of the institution, such as multi-campus visits that include out-of-state or international locations.

Conducting the Visit

On-Site Visit Procedure

The team chair consults with the team and the institution’s leadership to craft a schedule that suits the context of the institution and the availability of individuals and groups.

The visit agenda is focused on activities best suited for in-person review and interaction. A typical visit includes:

  • Customary meetings and reviews, including meetings with the institution’s leadership, board, and other key individuals and groups, such as those involved in preparing the materials for the comprehensive evaluation.
  • One or more areas of focus determined by the team as needing additional attention.
  • Open forum discussions on the Criteria for Accreditation with institutional stakeholders, including faculty, staff and students.
  • Other evaluation as required or requested, such as multi-campus and embedded change reviews. (These additional reviews may be conducted prior to or as part of the visit.)

Many agenda variations are possible to ensure interaction with the appropriate groups. Some activities may require the attendance of the entire team, while other activities may be suitably conducted by a subset of the team. Therefore, some activities may overlap, while some activities may not.

The team will remain in the area to continue its deliberations for an additional day after the visit.

Questions?

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