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.