Although the University is on track with preparations for its December 2009 reaccreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, the new requirements set forth by the organization may make the process more troublesome than past years, officials said.
"We're doing a great job, but just being on track doesn't mean it's easy," Provost Peter Lange said.
Colleges and universities in the 11 states under SACS's domain must be reaccredited every 10 years, according to the regulations outlined by the organization's Commission on Colleges.
U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings' September 2006 Commission on the Future of Higher Education pushed for institutions of higher education to be more accountable, which will affect the requirements of the SACS reaccreditation, officials said.
"Each time the reaccreditation happens, the rules change," Lange said. "We're not pleased with the direction this is taking. In a sense, we feel that the way the rules have so far been laid out does not accommodate different types of universities and colleges."
The requirements for how an institution of higher education can be accountable is very vague, said Judith Ruderman, accreditation director and vice provost for academic and administrative services.
"The Spellings Commission set in motion a huge brouhaha," Ruderman said. "All these bureaucratic initiatives will not really help higher education or increase accountability, but take away a good portion of what makes American higher education unique and effective. We don't want all this intrusion."
Lange said there is an "ecology of higher education," and the new push for accountability appears to standardize assessment for institutions.
"We believe we're doing a lot to be accountable," Lange said. "There is a push from some quarters to standardize metric and tools of assessment. I'm not at all convinced those tools can capture the differences between institutions."
There are two separate components to the reaccreditation process: a Compliance Certification document and a Quality Enhancement Plan, a self-study topic of choice regarding student learning.
The University formed three committees-a leadership team, a compliance certification team and an assessment working group-to work on the reaccreditation.
Duke must demonstrate how it fulfills the 76 requirements outlined by SACS in the Compliance Certification document and submit a report of its findings off-site review committee by Dec. 10, 2008.
SACS will review the document and determine the areas where Duke has not demonstrated sufficient compliance. The University will then write a focus report on each of the unmet requirements, Ruderman said.
The committees will refine the current topic of "Educating Students for the World of the Future" for the Quality Enhancement Plan in meetings later this week and next week, she said.
"Hopefully we will emerge with a manageable but compelling topic for self-study," she said. "It's not to be a philosophical approach but an action plan for some thing or things that we will actually implement and devote resources to."
The final decision regarding the study topic will be decided before July, Ruderman added.
David Jamieson-Drake, director of the Office of Institutional Research and co-convener of the assessment working group, said the new push for accountability makes universities responsible for whether students are learning or not. This does not take into account students' own initiative to learn, he added.
Officials said they are not opposed to the University being held accountable, but do not want to see a uniform assessment for higher education institutions.
Jamieson-Drake said the direction of accountability pushed by the federal government will also increase education costs, which is counter to the government's goal.
"You don't get something for nothing. You're asking department chairs and their bosses to do additional activities," Jamieson-Drake said, noting that many institutions have added new positions to help evaluate individual departments. Duke, however, will try to avoid creating new positions, he added.?
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