Accreditation is the voluntary process by which institutions of higher education assure and continuously improve the quality of their academic programs and supporting systems. UWS has both regional and programmatic accreditation.
Regional accreditation is managed by eight accrediting organizations, of which the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities oversees the accreditation of 162 institutions in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Alaska, Nevada and Utah. Regional accreditation provides institutions and students with eligibility to access federal financial aid and research funds. The Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU) accredits the University of Western States. The University’s next comprehensive evaluation is scheduled for 2012. NWCCU is located at 8060 165th Avenue N. E., Suite 100, Redmond, WA 98052. Tel: 425-558-4224. For further information on NWCCU, please go to
www.nwccu.org.
Specialized programmatic accreditation offers an additional level of accreditation for certain academic programs. Specialized accreditation organizations are approved by the US Department of Education's Office of Postsecondary Education to evaluate and accredit degree and certificate programs using very specific criteria.
The Doctor of Chiropractic degree program offered through the UWS College of Chiropractic is awarded programmatic accreditation by the Council on Chiropractic Education (CCE), 8049 North 85th Way, Scottsdale, AZ 85258-4321. Tel: 480-443-8877, Website:
www.cce-usa.org. The University’s next comprehensive evaluation for the Doctor of Chiropractic degree program is scheduled for 2012. Contact the CCE directly for more information or to register any complaint about compliance of the program with the CCE Standards.