what does "next accreditation visit" for a college mean?

Question

i was looking at different colleges today and i found something that said "next accreditation visit". they would say 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, for the different colleges.
what does that mean?

Answer 1

Accreditation is the process by which a national or regional organization looks at a university, or a college within the university, to assess whether it is performing according to generally-accepted standards. In doing this, they look at a report prepared by the school, but they also visit the campus to interview various people (from administrators to students) and to look over the records. You may have heard that universities are accredited or not, but many of the individual colleges within the university are also regularly evaluated by outside organizations to ensure their quality.

Once a college gets its original accreditation, it is given a schedule by which it will be revisited to make sure that it maintains its standards. Different organizations may require visits every 3, 5, or even 10 years. The dates you saw were the next visit dates for each of the colleges.

Answer 2

There are a number of organizations that decide whether or not universities should be accredited. In order to be accredited, they have to meet certain standards.

Once accredited, the schools are not allowed to just sit on their laurels. They have to be reviewd every few years. The date of the next review is what you are seeing.