Frequently Asked Questions

Our office handles both co-op and internships. Can we still
become accredited through ACCE?
The Accreditation Council for Cooperative Education only accredits programs
of cooperative education and does not accredit internships. When ACCE
reviews your program it will only review the co-op responsibilities of
your office. The fact that you also work with internships won’t
hurt or help your chances to become accredited by ACCE. We will, however,
look at how you distinguish each individual program to ensure that cooperative
education is a distinct program and is not confused with internships
by students, employers or university faculty and administrators.
I know that some of my programs could be accredited but I’m
not sure about some others. Can I get only part of the program accredited?
The applicant determines what entity or entities will be reviewed. You
can address “The Unit Issue" in any manner that you feel is
in the best interest of your program. We recommend that institutions
seek accreditation at the program level, but schools have the option
to choose a review at the unit or departmental program level. Substantial
compliance is judged at the level chosen by the institution. When reviewed
at the program level, one substantial compliance judgment is made. If
at the unit or departmental program level, compliance judgments are made
on each entity. It is possible to have some cooperative education programs
receive ACCE accreditation without all programs at an institution accredited
through ACCE. For example you may wish to have the College of Engineering
accredited by ACCE without requesting that we review the co-op programs
in any other academic unit. In that case ACCE would designate that the
College of Engineering as having been accredited by the ACCE and not
the university. Your subsequent advertising efforts would need to reflect
this distinction.
I don’t have engineering co-op at my institution. Are
other programs eligible?
Any academic discipline may use cooperative education as an experiential
education model therefore ACCE accredits co-op programs in a wide variety
of disciplines. The key is the extent to which the program meets the
ACCE criteria, not the discipline itself.
Can parallel programs or two-year programs be accredited by
ACCE?
The Accreditation Council for Cooperative Education has accredited several
programs that are strictly parallel or mostly parallel. ACCE recognizes
several models of cooperative education. These are defined as:
- Full-Time Alternating
The institution will have in place formalized alternation
of periods of full-time classroom study with periods of full-time
work experience approximately equal in length to the classroom
periods. Baccalaureate programs Curriculum includes at
least one academic year of multiple terms of full-time work experience.
(Normally totals at least 30 weeks, depending on the institution
calendar.) Two-year academic programs and graduate-level programs.
Curriculum includes a minimum of two work periods, one of which
is not a summer term. (Normally totals well over 15 weeks due to
the "two-work-period" definition.)
- Parallel
The student will be classified by the educational institution
as, at least, a half-time student. The institution will have
in place a formalized plan for a work experience component which
will encompass approximately one-half of a regular work-week
in length. Baccalaureate programs Curriculum includes
four or more work/school combination periods scheduled over,
at least, two academic years. (Normally totals at least 60 weeks,
depending on the institution calendar.) Two-year academic programs
and graduate-level programs Curriculum includes two or more work/school
combination periods scheduled over, at least, one academic year.
(Normally totals at least 30 weeks, depending on the institution
calendar.)
- Combination Alternating / Combination Parallel
Combination Alternating plans meet the defining features
of full-time alternating models; in addition, they include one
or more parallel components. Combination Parallel plans meet the
defining features of parallel models; in addition, they include
one or more periods of non-alternating full-time work. Baccalaureate
programs Curriculum includes multiple combinations of parallel
and full-time work-experience periods (including non-Summer terms)
that result in the approximate equivalent of 30 full-time workweeks.
Two-year academic programs and graduate-level programs Curriculum
includes multiple combinations of parallel and full-time work-experience
periods (including non-Summer terms) that result in the approximate
equivalent of 15 full-time work weeks.
I don’t have a large program. Can I still be accredited
by ACCE?
ACCE is looking for specific program attributes and the number of students
participating in the program is not necessarily a reflection of its quality.
A quality co-op program that follows the attributes of cooperative education
with a few students may become accredited while a program with several
hundred that does not adhere to the attributes of cooperative education
in the management of the program would not be eligible for ACCE accreditation.
I’m so busy. Will ACCE accreditation take up huge amounts
of time?
Cooperative education programs seeking ACCE accreditation will first
complete a self-study that documents how the program meets the criteria
for accreditation, provides statistics on program participation in the
form of a Cooperative Education Profile and Characteristics of Programs/Units
seeking accreditation. Most of the information can be easily found in
annual reports and other statistics you are generating for your institution.
The self-study will likely take the most time but it depends on how easily
you can answer essay questions and point the reader towards appropriate
supporting documentation. Most of the program directors that have gone
through the process estimate that the self-study takes approximately
three working days. Then you’ll need to prepare for a site visit
and host a site visit team which will take a few more days. If you add
the entire time together it’s probably little more than one work
week of your time to completing the ACCE accreditation process.
I’m not sure I can afford a site visit. Should I forget
about proceeding with ACCE accreditation?
We know that money is tight and ACCE will try to keep costs as low as
possible by finding appropriate site visit team members whose transportation
costs will be as low as possible. You will need to have funds available
to cover a site visit team but those funds may also be available at your
institution. Before you eliminate the idea of becoming accredited through
ACCE, check with the appropriate officers of your institution to see
if funds for an accreditation visit can be found from another budgetary
source on your campus.
Our program requires more than 20% of the student’s academic
program as cooperative education. Does ACCE measure our standards or
ACCE’s standards?
Accreditation is based on ACCE standards which may, on occasion, be
less rigorous than those your program has already in place. This facilitates
the process since you should have no problem easily documenting substantial
compliance with the ACCE program attributes and benchmarks.
When I look at the list of accredited programs I don’t
see some that I would expect to see. Why?
Accreditation is a voluntary process and not all schools feel it necessary
to participate in the process. This isn’t a reflection on the quality
of their program or the quality of ACCE as an accrediting body for cooperative
education. Institutions should be thoughtful concerning the many potential
benefits to their co-op program by seeking accreditation.
Most accrediting bodies are now focusing on learning outcomes.
How has ACCE addressed learning outcomes from co-op?
Precisely because learning outcomes are so important to most accrediting
bodies and because co-op programs are also obligated to help their universities
meet the standards of a variety of accrediting bodies, ACCE has chosen
to address learning outcomes in a very specific way. We require that
you demonstrate that learning outcomes have been established for your
program and that you have an appropriate assessment program in place.
This allows you to establish the learning outcomes that are most appropriate
for your program. You can then meet both the accreditation standards
of the various disciplines as well as ACCE standards without creating
artificial layers of redundancy.
ACCE uses “substantial compliance” as its measure.
What is substantial compliance?
We recognize that no program is entirely perfect therefore full compliance
with the attributes of cooperative education may be difficult if not
impossible. Therefore ACCE is looking to see if a program complies to
a substantial level with the attributes of cooperative education. As
with any review, some measure of judgment must be used by the Site Visit
Team and the Accreditation Review Board in making their determination.
Will ACCE accreditation give me more leverage on my own campus?
In this area, ACCE accreditation has seemed to have an early and perhaps
unexpected impact. Most programs accredited through ACCE have reported
a very positive enhancement of their program in the eyes of their own
campus. Faculty and administrators understand the importance of accreditation
and of maintaining quality standards through the accreditation process.
In this particular area, it seems that ACCE accreditation has really
paid off for those programs. For more solid evidence of this impact,
read what Co-op Program Directors have to say. There is also preliminary
evidence that prospective students, their parents, and employers are
beginning to view ACCE accreditation as an initial indicator of program
quality and desirability.
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