Middle States Accreditation

Accreditation is a voluntary, peer-review process meant to ensure current and future students and the public that an institution is providing a high-quality educational experience for students. Additionally, accreditation is required in order for students to gain access to federal financial aid, including loans, grants, and work-study administered by the U.S. Department of Education. Georgetown’s accreditation was most recently reaffirmed in 2012.

The self-study is a reflection on the health of the university, particularly the processes and structures which are in place to support education and research.  It is neither a strategic plan nor a policy document, and the examples therein are meant to be representative rather than comprehensive. 

Georgetown’s self-study endeavors to demonstrate its compliance with Middle States standards via a “priorities-based approach.”  The four institutional priorities (each of which corresponds to a chapter in the self-study) are (1) Ethics, Integrity, and Mission, (2) Research Excellence and Interdisciplinary Capacity to Address Complex Problems, (3) Curricular Excellence, Innovation, and Effectiveness, and (4) Supporting a Vibrant and Sustainable Student Experience. A fifth chapter demonstrates compliance with the MSCHE standard of Governance, Leadership, and Administration. Georgetown has used the self-study process to take advantage of an opportunity to examine key questions as they pertain to the evaluation of institutional priorities and its mission, goals, and future plans for the University.

The Middle States accreditation process allows schools to choose one of two approaches: a “Standards-based Approach,” which commits the institution to addressing every standard comprehensively, or a “Priorities-based Approach,” which enables a school to focus its study on a few select priorities. For the 2022 Self-Study, we chose to focus on the broad themes that form our core practices as a student-centered research institution, being research (Research Excellence and Supporting Interdisciplinary Research), education (curricular excellence, effectiveness, and assessment), and the student experience (vibrant life, support, care for the whole person).  In addition to these key themes, we also address the role of our mission and values, as well as our governance processes. 

The Evidence Inventory may be thought of as a comprehensive, indexed, super-appendix to the self-study.  It is an online repository of all documents referenced in the self-study that describe institutional processes, practices, and policies, allowing institutions to demonstrate compliance with the standards for accreditation and support assertions made in the self-study narrative. The Evidence Inventory enables the external Evaluation Team to access all supporting documentation in one place.  Because the Evidence Inventory resides on a password-protected Middle States site, it is not publicly available;  however, readers of the self-study should rest assured that all data/policies/procedures/communications/claims made in the self-study are thoroughly documented for the review team.

To date, over 80 members of the Georgetown community – including faculty, staff, and students – have contributed to a self-study report through work on either the Steering Committee or one of the Working Groups. Working and Steering Committee members were nominated by the Faculty Senate, MCEF, school deans, and student leadership.