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Academic Quality Improvement Program (AQIP)

North Arkansas College is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association.   We are a participating member in AQIP, a quality improvement and quality assurance program for higher education organizations.

In 2005, Northark became the first AQIP college in Arkansas.  We began our journey in January with a North Central Association (NCA)-facilitated Conversation Day.  On this day more than 100 Northark faculty, staff, and Board members worked together to identify “gap” areas – areas that are high priority but need improvement.  Progress in any of these areas could have a significant impact on Northark in coming years.  Over the next few months Northark teams refined the ideas generated during Conversation Day to develop our first three Action Projects which were launched in fall 2005:

• Launching and Sustaining Student Success  (a  3-year project)
• Launching and Sustaining Employee Success  (a  2-year project)
• Develop a Comprehensive & Coordinated Recruitment Program (a 1-year project; extended to a 2nd year for implementation)

As part of the AQIP Cycle we will always work on 3 Action Projects, one of which must focus on student learning.  We will also provide annual updates to the NCA about the progress of these projects, complete a comprehensive (and very introspective) Systems Portfolio every 4 years, and expect a site visit from an AQIP team every 7 years.    Unlike traditional accreditation, with its self-study and site visit, our re-accreditation through AQIP will result from the whole of our activities during the 7-year cycle.  These activities should, and will, reflect evidence of our commitment to continuous quality improvement and to a pattern of ongoing improvement.

Northark has a simple yet ambitious mission -- to provide high quality, affordable, convenient opportunities for learning and cultural enrichment in response to community needs.  AQIP allows us to focus our energies on continual improvement of the processes and systems needed to carry out this mission and lets us incorporate these activities into our re-accreditation.  The nine AQIP categories shown below describe a relationship among systems which are essential to effective institutions.  These categories, and the AQIP process, are providing us with a structure we are using to  continually improve Northark’s processes and systems.