A Probe Into The Programmatic Accreditation Of American Higher Education

Since the establishment of higher education accreditation, it has become one of the most important factors in ensuring American higher education developing healthily. It also takes important part in guaranteeing American higher education quality. On the other hand, programmatic accreditation is one of the critical parts of American higher education accreditation. Analyzing American higher education programmatic accreditation policy and summarizing its advanced education quality management experience, from which we can get great reference in our country's higher education reform and development.Taking the theory of pedagogy as reference, on the basis of methods of history, documentation, comparison, this thesis describes the American programmatic accreditation policy about why it came into being, developing history and how it operates in detail, on the base of which this thesis also analyses the characteristics, function and experience about it. In the end, it puts forward we China should push programmatic accreditation and summarizes the basic layout of our accreditation policy.The study shows that American programmatic accreditation policy puts higher education quality under the supervision of government, society and the public to meet their requirements. In American programmatic accreditation system, government authorizes Committee of Higher Education (which is abbreviated as CHEA) or the US Department of Education (which is abbreviated as USDE), CHEA or USDE recognizes programmatic accreditors, and programmatic accreditors accredit all kinds of program. The programmatic accreditors are non-governmental, independent and not-profit organizations; they accredit programs according to peculiar and individual accreditation criteria, supervise them to ensure and develop higher education quality, they also publish accreditation result to the public.Totally, American programmatic accreditation policy is a process of external quality assurance based on self-study and peer review. The accreditation harmonizes the relationship in higher education, the relationship between institutions, society and government. It's the primary self-management and the major force to protect the academic values. Today we China is during the important course of higher education reform and development, we should regard the successful experience of American programmatic accreditation policy as example; accomplish our programmatic accreditation policy with our own characteristics.