Required Training and Professional Development

Within the initial two-year term and prior to participation in any institutional evaluation, a peer reviewer must participate in HLC training or professional development that educates the peer reviewer in the application of HLC requirements, other HLC policies and the specific processes integral to HLC evaluations. Peer reviewers must fulfill HLC training obligations at least every three years thereafter or within two years after any major initiative such as the adoption of new Criteria for Accreditation.  

Such training may be customized for the specific role the peer reviewer undertakes in HLC’s evaluation process, including training in preparation for a role in HLC’s decision-making or appeals processes. Training for peer reviewers will regularly include segments that take into account the evaluation of academic quality in the context of various modalities.  

Training may take place through in-person events or electronic mechanisms that will allow the peer reviewer to complete the training program and HLC to assess the peer reviewer’s completion of the training material. 

Policy History

Last Revised: June 2021 
First Adopted: February 1994  
Revision History: October 2003, February 2004, February 2010, November 2012, June 2021 
Notes: Policies combined in November 2012 – 6.3. In February 2021, references to the Higher Learning Commission as “the Commission” were replaced with the term “HLC.”