Accountability

Accountability. It's become a buzz word across society today, and increasingly in discussions about higher education - on campus, in news stories, in state houses, and in Congress. It's also almost never defined. What is accountability, how are colleges and universities providing it, and where can those seeking measures of higher education find it? Those are just some of the questions that "Colleges, Universities, and Accountability" will attempt to answer.

Unlike much of elementary and secondary education, the effectiveness, efficiency, and success of American higher education cannot be measured using common yardsticks across all institutions. More than ten years ago, NAICU issued a report on   TheResponsibilitiesofIndependence.pdf The following words from that report ring as true today as they did in the early 1990s: 

While many refer to a national 'system' of higher education, American higher education is strong precisely because it is not a centrally controlled, uniform system. It is strong because the individual institutions emphasize different functions and complement each other by meeting different needs.

The diversity of American colleges and universities collectively makes possible the full range of contributions to society: educating citizens; preparing a work force; increasing scientific and technical knowledge; and enhancing economic productivity. This strength in diversity also allows advancement of scholarly understanding of cultural heritages, insights into social problems, and a setting in which to raise religious, moral, and ethical questions. Educational excellence thrives amid diversity when each college and university clearly defines its own distinctive mission and is then responsible for fulfilling that mission.

Accountability in higher education also is constantly evolving, as institutions explore new avenues for measuring results and documenting outcomes. Therefore, this site additionally will serve as a resource for those tracking the experimentation and innovation of colleges and universities as they pursue new forms of accountability with all of those whose lives they touch.

Even organizing what we mean by "accountability" as it relates to higher education is a difficult task.  This outline, Accountable to Whom?, may be useful in framing discussions of private college and university accountability.

Click here for a summary of what you will find on this site. 

Full text of  TheResponsibilitiesofIndependence.pdf in PDF format. 

If you have suggestions for improving the usefulness of this site, or if you have questions about higher education accountability that are not answered here, please contact accountability@naicu.edu.

Independent Colleges and Universities:  Please click here to complete NAICU's on-line survey of accountability efforts in place at individual institutions.  Selected information provided by respondents will be included in the "Institutional Examples" section and other areas of this site.