Colleagues,
I want to make you aware of an evolving effort that the University of Tennessee System has been invited to engage in alongside several other public university systems across the South. The effort involves exploring a new accreditation option designed specifically for public higher education.
The UT System has joined with the Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Texas A&M and South Carolina university systems to support the formation of the Commission for Public Higher Education (CPHE), an accrediting body that will offer an additional pathway for institutions to ensure academic quality, operational effectiveness and student success. This collaboration is still in early stages and is years away from full implementation. However, it reflects a shared interest in introducing more choice, accountability and transparency into the existing accreditation landscape. Ultimately, this would require approval by the federal Department of Education.
The CPHE aspires to maintain or exceed existing standards, reduce inefficiencies and provide greater flexibility while prioritizing student outcomes and institutional quality. Importantly, this would simply represent an additional accreditation option for us, and we would continue to choose the accreditor that best meets our needs. The University of Tennessee remains dedicated to ensuring there is flexibility in our choice of accreditors – now and in the future.
While Florida is formally announcing the effort this morning, I wanted you to hear directly from me that the UT System is participating in ongoing conversations, not as a replacement of existing accreditation but as part of a national dialogue around innovation and accountability in higher education.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Randy Boyd
President, University of Tennessee System