Quality Initiative

The Open Pathway requires an institution to designate one major improvement effort it has undertaken during its 10-year accreditation cycle as its Quality Initiative. The Quality Initiative takes place between years 5 and 9 of the 10-year Open Pathway Cycle. A Quality Initiative project may be designed to begin and be completed during this time, or an institution may continue a project that is already in progress or achieve a key milestone in the work of a longer initiative. The Quality Initiative is intended to allow institutions to take risks, aim high and learn from only partial success or even failure.

Coming Soon: Student Success Quality Initiative

In February 2025, HLC’s Board of Trustees adopted policy changes that establish an option for eligible institutions on the Open Pathway to choose to complete a Quality Initiative focused on student success during Years 1–4 of the accreditation cycle in lieu of the mid-cycle Assurance Review in Year 4. The policy changes go into effect on September 1, 2025.

See the adopted policy changes for information about how an institution would become eligible for this new option, called a Student Success Quality Initiative. Full details about the Student Success Quality Initiative will be published this summer.

Documents and Forms

Quality Initiative Procedure

Institutional Templates
Peer Review Forms

Choosing a Quality Initiative

The Quality Initiative can take one of three forms:

  1. The institution designs and proposes its own Quality Initiative to suit its present concerns or aspirations.
  2. The institution chooses an initiative from a menu of topics, such as the following examples:
    • The institution undertakes a broad-based self-evaluation and reflection leading to revision or restatement of its mission, vision, and goals.
    • The institution joins with a group of peer institutions, which it identifies, to develop a benchmarking process for broad institutional self-evaluation.
    • The institution undertakes a multi-year process to create systemic, comprehensive assessment and improvement of student learning.
    • A four-year institution joins with community colleges to create a program of dual admission, joint recruitment and coordinated curriculum and student support.
    • The institution pursues a strategic initiative to improve its financial position.
    • The institution pursues a campus action project or new partnership that promotes civic awareness, community change or service learning. (Institutions looking for resources related to civic engagement activities may want to reach out to the Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U), American Political Science Association (APSA), or Campus Compact.)
  3. The institution chooses to participate in an HLC-facilitated program. Currently, HLC has two such programs, the Assessment Academy and Student Success Academy.

Most Common Topics

  • Student success (including Foundations of Excellence and focus on persistence and completion)
  • Assessment of student learning
  • Online/mobile Learning (including Quality Matters)
  • Organizational planning
  • Unit or program review
  • Developing a quality culture
  • Cultural competency

Related Resources

Questions?

[email protected]