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Fall 2021 Accreditation Visits

HLC will continue to monitor the travel concerns during the pandemic. HLC will provide an update about fall accreditation activities by June 30, 2021.

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Spring 2021 Accreditation Visits

HLC will visit campuses this spring, if possible. The evaluation process will be adjusted depending on the type of review.

HLC has provided the following resources for peer reviewers conducting evaluations and campus visits:

• Health and safety guidance for peer reviewers
• Recordings of past peer reviewer trainings on conducting virtual evaluations and conducting evaluations during the pandemic.

Comprehensive Evaluations

All spring comprehensive evaluations will be conducted as scheduled. The majority of the peer review team will be virtual, with one member traveling to campuses during the scheduled visit date. If it is impossible to have a peer reviewer on campus, the institution should contact its HLC staff liaison as soon as possible to discuss possible options. For more details about how the evaluation will be conducted, see HLC's FAQs for comprehensive evaluations.

Additional Location Confirmation Visits, Campus Evaluation Visits and Multi-location Visits

Students must be present for HLC to conduct these visits. HLC will reach out to the institutions that need these visits to see if students will be on campus in the spring. If so, the visit will be conducted in-person by a single peer reviewer and limited to one day.

Change Visits

These visits will be conducted with one peer reviewer visiting the institution and the other member of the peer review team conducting the review virtually.

Focused Visits, Initial Accreditation Visits and Sanction Visits

HLC will determine based on criteria it has established, the nature of each case and the status of the pandemic whether to move forward with the scheduled evaluation. Peer reviewers and institutions should connect directly with their HLC staff liaison about the status of these events.

Evaluations of the Criteria for Accreditation During the Pandemic

To help institutions and peer reviewers address the COVID-19 pandemic in their comprehensive evaluations and Assurance Reviews, HLC has published new guidance on evaluating the Criteria for Accreditation during the pandemic.

Institutions

An institution should prepare for an evaluation as it would under normal circumstances. The purpose of an evaluation is to assess an institution’s typical practices, and that remains true during this crisis. In order to inform peer review teams of how an institution has responded to and been affected by the pandemic, institutions will be asked to complete a COVID-19 Response Form. This form allows the institution to describe the planning it has undertaken during the pandemic, the changes or adjustments it has made to academic and cocurricular programs during this time, any enrollment and financial irregularities, and any other changes in processes, procedures, or structures at the institution relevant to HLC’s Criteria for Accreditation. The institution will also be asked to describe its plan for the immediate and longer-term future. Providing this information in a form separate from the assurance argument will help peer reviewers differentiate between the institution’s typical practice and the temporary adjustments necessary during the pandemic.

Peer Reviewers

The peer review team will evaluate if an institution has demonstrated compliance with the Criteria and other HLC requirements and, if not, consider if it is a direct result of the institution’s need to respond to the pandemic. If so, the team will note this in its report but refrain from recommending increased monitoring. HLC’s guidance document provides further information for peer review teams having conversations with institutions regarding their COVID-19 responses and addressing the pandemic in its report.

Decision Making

HLC will continue to hold Board of Trustees meetings and Institutional Actions Council (IAC) Hearings in a virtual, interactive format. IAC meetings, which were previously conducted in a virtual format, will proceed as scheduled.

Please note: Any postponement of evaluations or on-campus visits may cause a delay for when an institution's evaluation is processed for final action by the appropriate decision making body.