Michigan State University has earned reaccreditation through the Higher Learning Commission’s Institutional Actions Council for 10 years, confirming MSU’s continued work to meet and exceed higher education standards.
A Feb. 24 letter notified MSU President Kevin M. Guskiewicz, Ph.D., of the IAC’s vote on Feb. 18 to continue MSU’s accreditation for the next 10 years, with the next reaffirmation of accreditation scheduled for 2034-35.
Thomas Jeitschko, interim provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, announced the IAC’s action to affirm MSU’s reaccreditation for the next decade, acknowledging the work of MSU’s exceptional faculty and academic staff.
“The results are a resounding affirmation of the exceptional work being done at MSU,” said Jeitschko. “This process allowed our university community to showcase our commitment to our mission through quality education, continuous improvement and effective planning. I am proud of the collaborative efforts across campus that continue every day to help ensure we meet our goals related to student success and academic excellence as we prepare our graduates to respond to future opportunities and challenges.”
The reaccreditation process started with drafting MSU’s reaffirmation argument main points and gathering collective evidence to support the argument and ended with an HLC Peer Corps team visit to MSU Nov. 4-7 to review the reaffirmation narrative and evidence. The process prompted the HLC site team to make a recommendation to the HLC IAC.
The five HLC “Criteria for Accreditation” were all “Met” — MSU did not receive any “Met with Concerns” or “Not Met” ratings on any of the 18 subcriteria. The five HLC “Criteria for Accreditation” include “Mission,” “Integrity: Ethical and Responsible Conduct,” “Teaching and Learning: Quality, Resources and Support,” “Teaching and Learning: Evaluation and Improvement,” and “Institutional Effectiveness, Resources and Planning.”
Jeitschko thanked the faculty, staff and administrators who served on the HLC Working Group in the 2023-24 academic year, as well as community members who attended sessions during the campus site visit, and Stacia Moroski-Rigney, director of the MSU Office of Accreditation, Assessment, Curriculum and Compliance for leading the initiative to its successful outcome.
“The reaffirmation process was a team effort. The HLC Working Group, the AACC staff and many others across campus provided critical support to the effort,” Moroski-Rigney said. “The past decade has seen many challenges for MSU, and to receive an all “Met” report evidences the good work happening in our community, our resilience, and the dedication of our faculty and staff to MSU students.”
The letter from HLC notifying the university of its reaccreditation can be viewed on the commission’s Directory of Institutions MSU web page.