Overview

Loyola University Chicago's accreditation was affirmed in 2014-45 through the Comprehensive Evaluation. This included a quality initiative project as part of the newly created Open Pathway Process.

Quality Initiative Project

During the 2014-15 re-accreditation process Loyola University Chicago (LUC) engaged in a Quality Initiative focused on assessing the student learning in senior level capstone courses. The goals of LUC’s initiative, “A Case Study of Senior Level Capstone Courses at Loyola University Chicago,” included a look at various capstone courses to identify common themes to inform the development of an assessment for all capstone courses.

The Quality Initiative was completed through participation in HLC’s Academy for the Assessment of Student Learning, and the University team worked with an Academy mentor throughout the development of the study. A final report to the HLC was submitted in Fall 2014, and the formal results of the Quality Initiative were reported at the Assessment Academy Results Forum in St. Charles, IL on November 19, 2014. The work initiated in the Quality Initiative has informed future projects on assessment of student learning.

The HLC's comprehensive evaluation of Loyola University Chicago that was completed in 2014-15 included three components:

1. An Assurance Review: Peer reviewers determined whether an institution continues to meet a set of quality standards known as the Criteria for Accreditation. The criteria for accreditation include:

• Mission
• Integrity: Ethical and Responsible Conduct
• Teaching and Learning: Quality, Resources, and Support
• Teaching and Learning: Evaluation and Improvement
• Resources, Planning, and Institutional Effectiveness

The assurance review is based on an Assurance Filing, a web-based report that includes both a narrative of how Loyola University Chicago fulfills the criteria for re-accreditation along with many examples of evidence supporting the argument in the narrative. This document was submitted in January of 2015 after extensive review by our core accreditation team members.

For a full list of the criteria for accreditation, as well as explanations of their 21 sub criterion, please see the Higher Learning Commission’s website. Teams of Loyola’s faculty, administrators and staff collected the evidence to address each of these criteria through Assurance Argument teams.

2. A Federal Compliance Review: An examination of federal compliance data; and

3. An On-Site Visit: A team of 7 peer reviewers visited LUC’s campuses on February 23-24, 2015 to confirm the claims made in the assurance review and federal compliance review and integrated these reports with knowledge gained from observations and meetings during their visit. Opportunities for the LUC community to participate in the accreditation process before and during the site visit were provided. The reviewers produced a comprehensive report  for submission to the Higher Learning Commission, along with a recommendation regarding our accreditation status. The HLC affirmed LUC’s accreditation on June 15, 2015  until our next reaffirmation in 2024-25.