Accreditation
What is Accreditation?
Accreditation is the recognition that an institution maintains standards requisite for its graduates to gain admission to other reputable institutions of higher learning or to achieve credentials for professional practice. The goal of accreditation is to ensure that education provided by institutions of higher education meets acceptable levels of quality.
Types of Accreditation
Cal State Â鶹ÃÛÌÒAV receives our institutional accreditation by the , commonly referred to as WASC. Review plans for the 2025 Reaffirmation here. Review information on the University’s Reaffirmation for 2015 here.
In addition to institutional accreditation by WASC, a number of programs at Cal State Â鶹ÃÛÌÒAV hold discipline-specific accreditation, also referred to as "specialized" or "programmatic" accreditation. Specialized accreditation applies to the evaluation of programs, departments, or schools which are parts of a total institution. Each accrediting body has its own standards for evaluating programs. In some cases, specialized accreditation is required for students to be licensed or eligible to work in the field such as the California State Board of Registered Nursing and Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education for Nursing or the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing for education. Programs that award academic credit are also required to undergo internal program review at Cal State Â鶹ÃÛÌÒAV through the Committee on Academic Planning and Review (CAPR) in addition to their external accreditation process.