There seems to be some confusion as to what accreditation is and/or means. There are two basic types of accreditation in the USA, INSTITUTIONAL and PROGRAMMATIC. ERAU accreditation falls under the institutional accreditation category. Its accrediting body is the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, Commission on Colleges (SACS), one of six REGIONAL accrediting bodies in the USA that provide INSTITUTIONAL accreditation. The other five regional creditors are the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. In addition, there are several NATIONAL accrediting agencies such as the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC) that also provide INTITUTIONAL accreditation. A college or university that meets the quality standards and fulfills the requirements designated by the accreditation organization achieves institutional accreditation status.
In order to meet the requirements for institutional accreditation status, all aspects of the college or university, including academic quality, administrative effectiveness, and all other related services of the institution, are reviewed by the accreditation organization. Institutional accreditation affirms that the college or university operates with a high level of quality in all its aspects. This type of accreditation is comprehensive and indicates that the institution has achieved quality standards in areas such as faculty, administration, curriculum, student services, and overall financial well-being. This type of accreditation is held in high regard in the world of education. On the other hand, PROGRAMMATIC accreditation is a type of accreditation status that is designated for specialized departments, programs, schools, or colleges WITHIN a college or university that have already been awarded institutional accreditation. Examples of programmatic accreditation are AACSB and ACBSP.
Programmatic accreditation focuses on particular aspects of the department, program, school, or college's specified academic field of study. For instance, this type of accreditation status recognizes particular aspects of quality in the academic fields of engineering, nursing, law, or education, among others.
Simply put, institutional accreditation applies to the entire school and programmatic accreditation is specific to a program(s) within a school. It is not necessary, however, to have programmatic accreditation in order to obtain or keep institutional accreditation.
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