The process for Binghamton University’s 2010 reaccreditation is close to completion. The campus review is finished and officials have been presented with a draft of early findings, which reveal that the University has surpassed expectations with just a few suggested improvements.

According to Jean-Pierre Mileur, interim provost and vice president for academic affairs, ‘Initial indications are that we have been given the equivalent of an A-plus.’

Every 10 years the University applies for reaccreditation by the Middle States Review Commission. The commission is made up of academic officials from universities including BU.

The review process only takes a few days, during which the committee meets with academic departments, administration, faculty and students to assess the University’s current status and plans for the future. The University hopes to continue to improve.

‘We are very pleased with the Middle States’ initial review,’ Mileur said. ‘It confirms that we continue to be an institution that by professional standards is extremely well-run.’

The Middle State Commission on Higher Education will meet in February 2011 to review the recommendations and BU’s response, and will make a final decision. Notice of reaccreditation will be affirmed soon after, according to Mileur.

There are three different results that the committee can give an institution. The first is accreditation, the second is accreditation with certain requirements and the last is to not provide accreditation.

‘The expectations of the results were that we were going to be accredited but we weren’t sure to what extent or what recommendations the committee was going to make for us. So for that we exceeded expectations,’ said Student Association president Jared Kirschenbaum.

BU did not receive any major recommendations, although the University did receive some advice from the Middle States Committee on a few minor technical issues, such as risk assessment, which will be taken into careful consideration, according to Mileur.

According to Kirschenbaum, this year’s results can be seen in both a positive and negative light.

‘The downside of it is that the University doesn’t really have any feedback or suggestions for ways to improve. That part of it was more of a really good thing and a bad thing,’ Kirschenbaum said. ‘Really good is that we did amazing, but bad is that we do not have any recommendations for ways that we can improve the University.’

The process for accreditation is voluntary. Higher education institutions decide to pursue accreditation from whichever organizations they please. Primarily, schools request the written standards from their chosen accrediting agencies. Then the school’s governing body examines these standards and initiates improvements to the school’s structure and curriculum.

Once all standards are met, the school will perform a self-evaluation to ensure that no criteria have been missed.

According to BU’s 2010 self-study report titled ‘Distinguished Past, Innovative Future,’ the University has achieved its 2005 strategic goals in investing academic excellence, growth and diversification, and enhanced engagement. The report also noted that the University has achieved objectives of creating adaptive infrastructure and fostering diversity, prospect and success.

The self-study serves as a type of proposal for earning accreditation. Following the accreditation, strategic plans are set forth to improve for the future after the accreditation is received.

This year, BU’s mission is to ‘distinguish itself as a stellar institution of higher education, one that combines an international reputation for graduate education, research, scholarship and creative endeavor with the best undergraduate programs available at any public university,’ according to the 2010 Strategic Plan.

The self-study serves as a type of proposal for earning accreditation. Following the accreditation, the strategic plans are set forth to improve for the future after the reaccreditation is earned.

Some of the goals for improvement include increasing the number of tenure or tenure-track faculty who will advance the mission of discovery and learning in both established and emerging programs, strengthening graduate education and enhancing BU’s transfer initiatives.