{"id":81422,"date":"2025-12-12T21:34:06","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T21:34:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/81422\/"},"modified":"2025-12-12T21:34:06","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T21:34:06","slug":"ucf-first-in-florida-to-shift-from-regional-accreditation-amid-commission-for-public-higher-education-push-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/81422\/","title":{"rendered":"UCF first in Florida to shift from regional accreditation amid Commission for Public Higher Education Push | News"},"content":{"rendered":"

UCF President Alexander Cartwright announced Dec. 2 that UCF became the first Florida university to receive accreditation by the Higher Learning Commission<\/a>, one of the nation\u2019s largest institutional accreditors.<\/p>\n

\u201cUCF\u2019s transition to HLC reflects our bold ambitions for the future and our responsibility to deliver exceptional value for Florida,\u201d Cartwright said in a statement. \u201cHLC is an accreditation partner that matches our scale, our innovation, and our commitment to strong stewardship of public resources.\u201d<\/p>\n

This milestone comes after Gov. Ron DeSantis announced this summer that the State University System of Florida and five other state systems would be launching a first-of-its-kind<\/a> accreditation system \u2014 the Commission for Public Higher Education.<\/p>\n

The 1965 Higher Education Act requires<\/a> accreditors to evaluate educational institutions based on broadly defined categories.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Due to a recent\u00a0state statute<\/a>, Florida universities are required to switch accreditors every five years.\u00a0UCF\u2019s next accreditation date falls within the next full cycle in 2032, according to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges<\/a>.<\/p>\n

DeSantis has emphasized that CPHE is intended to curb what he calls ideological influence embedded in existing accreditation standards.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In his announcement<\/a> earlier this year, he described traditional accreditors as \u201cout-of-touch.”<\/p>\n

According to the CPHE Business Plan<\/a>, the accreditor\u2019s initial funding of $4 million comes from the Florida Board of Governors, as appropriated by the Florida Legislature.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The plan details steps for CPHE to become fully recognized: incorporation as a nonprofit organization, creation of a Board of Directors across the participating state university systems, accreditation of six institutions by summer 2026 and recognition by the U.S. Department of Education by 2028.<\/p>\n

Dan Harrison, one of CPHE\u2019s lead administrators, described the organization as \u201cfunctioning like a startup,\u201d handling the first cohort, rebuilding the website, hiring contractors and assembling review teams.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Harrison stressed Florida\u2019s initial support: \u201cFlorida was super generous and they were so generous in fact that the other six systems in Florida all now have an equal seat at the director’s table.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harrison also noted that CPHE must \u201coperate continuously for two years\u201d and \u201coffer accreditation to one or more institutions\u201d before applying for federal recognition, adding that the organization is \u201cdefinitely on track.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jason Jewell, chief academic officer and vice chancellor of strategic initiatives for the State University System, emphasized why CPHE was necessary.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere have been calls for accreditation reform for a long time… there has been a widespread sense that accreditors, by and large, haven’t been doing that very well over the past 30 years or so,” Jewell said. “Some of these accreditors that have been around for 60 or 70 years have pretty big bureaucracies; it makes them pretty slow to act in a lot of circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jewell explained that CPHE\u2019s approach differs from traditional accrediting agencies by focusing on outcomes rather than processes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cRather than asking, \u2018Well, how much money do you spend on this activity?\u2019 We’re going to ask, you know, what you have this activity going on at your institution? What does it produce? Is that consistent with your school’s mission?\u201d Jewell said.<\/p>\n

He also highlighted the move away from geographic criteria in favor of peer institutions<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the schools in Florida, let’s say University of Central Florida, who are really the peer institutions for UCF,\u201d said Jewell. \u201cWe might obviously say, well, the other institutions in the State University System might be candidates for that, or institutions of a certain size in other states that are public might be considered peer institutions – institutions 20 miles apart – that doesn\u2019t really make sense in the 21st century.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robert Cassanello, president of the United Faculty of Florida union and a UCF history professor, raised concerns about pace and governance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis accreditation system looks like it could really be done rather quickly and it\u2019s not a compliment,\u201d Cassanello said.<\/p>\n

He also questioned CPHE\u2019s independence, saying it could be \u201ca self-dealing system – going to be held responsible through the states that funded and staff it\u201d and asked, \u201cHow can an accreditor investigate state interference – from the state that\u2019s paying its employees?\u201d<\/p>\n

Jewell addressed potential conflicts of interest, explaining safeguards.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there\u2019s a school from the SUS that has applied for accreditation, the staff is going to make sure that none of the members of the site team or the review team is from an SUS school,\u201d Jewell said. \u201cWe want to make sure that there’s a separation there, that there’s not going to be any kind of conflict of interest in that sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also highlighted CPHE\u2019s intellectual diversity standard<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a standard on intellectual diversity for students and faculty,\u201d Jewell said. \u201cTo make sure our schools are open to a wide variety of viewpoints, and that the schools are not taking action to try to stifle free speech or open discussion about important ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n

While UCF is not part of CPHE\u2019s first cohort, Jewell noted it could be an option in the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs far as UCF is concerned, CPHE is one option for schools,” Jewell said. “If they want to come to CPHE, that\u2019s another option for them. Ultimately, it\u2019s up to the leadership at each one of the individual institutions as to which accreditor they want to work with.”<\/p>\n

Jewell reassured that students will not see immediate changes: \u201cStudents are not gonna wake up to an entirely different university, just based on who their accreditor is.\u201d<\/p>\n

UCF\u2019s transition to HLC reflects a goal to increase national competitiveness and solidifies UCF as the first university in Florida to move away from the traditional accreditor, Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.<\/p>\n

\u201cUCF has become a national leader in delivering excellence at scale, achieving outstanding outcomes for our students and the state while operating with one of the lowest costs per degree in the nation,\u201d Cartwright said in the statement. \u201cBecause of that efficiency, additional new investments in UCF would deliver among the strongest returns in higher education \u2014 fueling the talent, research, and innovation that drive Florida\u2019s future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Accreditation remains central to student experience, affecting federal aid, transferability of credits and institutional reputation. CPHE\u2019s emergence introduces a potential new option for public universities, but its federal recognition timeline \u2014 with the earliest likely approval in 2028 \u2014 ensures no immediate impact for UCF students.<\/p>\n

As CPHE develops, it represents a national experiment in public university accreditation, with six states testing new models as opposed to traditional regional boundaries. Whether CPHE gains widespread adoption could influence the trajectory of public higher education across the United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not our goal to accredit every single school\u2026 but we think we\u2019re going to provide a good option for public institutions,” Jewell said. “We expect that a number of them will think that will be the best choice for them going forward.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UCF President Alexander Cartwright announced Dec. 2 that UCF became the first Florida university to receive accreditation by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81423,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[4401,1167,115,139,141,140,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-81422","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-academics","9":"tag-administration","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-orlando","12":"tag-orlando-headlines","13":"tag-orlando-news","14":"tag-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81422"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81422\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}