Single Accreditation in Maine?

This week I thought I would share an article about Maine and how they are looking to accredit all their Universities in a single accreditation.  This article in “Inside Higher Ed” (January 28, 2020) is interesting in that it parallels a consolidation solution Alaska has discussed while dealing with our own budget issues.  Click on the image below to read the article.

Inside Higher Ed Logo
“Maine Moves Ahead With Unified Accreditation”
Click the image to read the Inside Higher Ed article (Opens in a new tab)

Maine has seven universities, and they have been discussing consolidating for a number of years.  According to a linked article in Inside Higher Ed from May 2015 the Maine system has had very similar pros/cons that the University of Alaska system has:

“Proponents say it will allow for more flexibility in adding and cutting degrees, reduce administrative costs, and help create more paths to enrollment for nontraditional students. In short, they say it would give the University of Maine the agility it needs to become financially solvent in an era of flat state funding, consistent tuition freezes and enrollment decline.

Yet opponents say a single systemwide accreditation diminishes the autonomy and faculty voice of each institution and could jeopardize the quality of education at individual campuses.”

With the Maine systems Board of Trustees opening the door for figuring out the details of moving to single accreditation, it will be very interesting to see how they proceed. I know the University of Alaska will be watching closely to see what goes well, and what obstacles they face.

What do you think?  (Note: I am going to take a chance and keep the comment section open for this if anyone wants to comment.  Sorry, but I will turn it off if I start getting spam comments again.) 

Thank you for reading the FLC and I’ll see you next week!