Accreditation

Home  //  About HCC  //  Institutional Overview  //  Accreditation

Higher Learning Commission (HLC)

Highland Community College is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) and is authorized to operate by the Kansas Board of Regents. The HLC accreditation pathway the College has chosen to follow is called Open Pathway. The Open Pathway is one of three options institutions have for maintaining their accreditation with HLC. It follows a 10-year cycle and, like all pathways, is focused on quality assurance and institutional improvement. The Open Pathway is unique in that its improvement component, the Quality Initiative, affords institutions the opportunity to pursue improvement projects that meet their current needs and aspirations.

Academic Quality Improvement Program (AQIP)

AQIP is an eight year cycle of improvement activities that include attendance at a Strategy Forum, having active Action Projects at all times, the creation and enhancement of an institutional Systems Portfolio which describes the operations of the College, filing a Federal Compliance report, a Comprehensive Quality Review, and Reaffirmation.

The College's first two portfolios were submitted in 2007 and 2011 and contained information relating to nine separate categories.  That format has been improved to include six categories:

  1. Helping Students Learn,
  2. Meeting Student and Other Key Stakeholder Needs,
  3. Valuing Employees,
  4. Planning and Leading,
  5. Knowledge Management and Resource Stewardship,
  6. Quality Overview.

College personnel completed the third portfolio using the new Categories in November of 2016. 

AQIP Quality Quotes 

AQIP Portfolio Resources

What's Happening At Highland