QEP FAQ

The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges is the regional body for the accreditation of degree-granting higher education institutions in the Southern states.

Accreditation is a quality assurance program to inform students, the public, and other stakeholders that an institution has met thresholds of performance on established criteria. Accreditation is affirmed through periodic review by peer evaluator teams.

Accreditation is important to affirm academic excellence and high standards of an institution to the public. It facilitates transfer of credit and fosters collaboration among institutions. Accreditation is also a hallmark of quality recognized by the U. S. Department of Education; higher education institutions must be accredited by a nationally recognized accreditor for students to received federal student aid.

In order to maintain accreditation and be in full compliance with SACSCOC, Walters State must comply with the standards in the Principles of Accreditation: Foundations for Quality Enhancement.

A Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) is one that addresses an issue that is important to improving student learning outcomes and/or the environment supporting learning. It is a significant part of the reaffirmation for accreditation process.

To fulfill the SACSCOC core requirement and comprehensive standard below, Walters State must develop an acceptable Quality Enhancement Plan as part of our reaffirmation for accreditation.

• Core Requirement 2.12 The institution has developed an acceptable Quality Enhancement Plan(QEP) that includes an institutional process for identifying key issues emerging from institutional assessment and focuses on learning outcome sand/or the environment supporting student learning and accomplishing the mission of the institution. (Quality Enhancement Plan)
• Comprehensive Standard 3.3.2 The institution has developed a Quality Enhancement Plan that (1) demonstrates institutional capability for the initiation, implementation, and completion of the QEP; (2) includes broad-based involvement of institutional constituencies in the development and proposed implementation of the QEP; and (3) identifies goals and a plan to assess their achievement. (Quality Enhancement Plan)

All of Walters State’s constituents are involved in selecting the QEP topic. Students, faculty, staff, alumni, trustees, program advisory boards, secondary partners, and the community are examples of just a few of the groups whose opinions will be integrated into topic selection. 

The QEP Development Team will survey the aforementioned groups and also conduct focus groups on each campus site with students, faculty, and staff. Based on these results, five to seven possible areas for improvement will be chosen. After, they will be ranked by these groups to narrow down to a final four. A call for proposals on the final four topics will be given and, finally, our QEP topic will be chosen!

The QEP Development Team plans to have the new QEP topic selected by April 2016.

Everyone at Walters State is involved in the Quality Enhancement Plan! Once the topic is chosen, you should be aware of the chosen topic and participate in activities related to the QEP. Make sure to be on the lookout for QEP news and activities.

The SACSCOC On-Site Committee will visit Walters State in fall 2017.

Please feel free to email the QEP Development Team at qepFREEWS or the chair:
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