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Committee Visits

 

A substantive change committee visit is utilized as a quality assurance mechanism designed to ensure the quality of an approved substantive change and to ensure the institution remains in compliance with all the Principles of Accreditation and policies. 

While a committee visit is required for the Below six types of substantive changes  (pg. 50 of the SACSCOC Substantive Change Policy Statement). It is also at the discretion of the President of SACSCOC to authorize a committee to review the institution more in depth. All cases utilize the Report of the Substantive Change Committee will be used to determine the ongoing accreditation status of an institution.

  1. Initiating an off-campus instructional site that requires SACSCOC approval
    a visit at the time of approval is one or more visit criteria are met, also a representative sample visit of off-campus instructional sites is required at the fifth-year interval if additional sites have been initiated since the last reaffirmation and if the sites have not been visited
  2. Initiation of a Branch Campus
    all branch campuses require a committee visit regardless of the number of off-campus instructional sites the university has

  3. Initiation of a change in governance or a change in ownership with a change in control

  4. Initiation of merger/consolidation or an institution, program, or location acquisition
  5. Initiation a level change
    initiating coursework or programs at a different level than currently approved, some institutions may not require a visit when moving from Level III to Level IV
  6. Initiating competency-based education by direct assessment program that requires SACSCOC approval
    required visit for each competency-based education by direct assessment program that is approved 

 

Preparing for a Substantive Change Committee Visit

The Substantive Change Committee is charged with determining the institution's continued compliance with the Principles of Accreditation. Visits occur within six months after the initiation of the change. 

Institutions will complete appropriate substantive change documentation templates related to the relevant Standards and the roster for faculty members who will be teaching in the program or at the site. 

 

After the Visit

The Substantive Change Committee report and the response of the institution to the recommendations in that report, which are due withing five months, are then reviewed by the Committee on Compliance and Reports. One of the following actions are then recommended: