Since 1921, Johns Hopkins University has been accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE). The reaccreditation process requires JHU to complete a comprehensive self-study once every eight years.
The current round of reaccreditation kicked off in June 2022, and the university is now ready to share a near-final draft of the self-study report with the wider JHU community for a brief review period, before submitting the final version to MSCHE by Sept. 23.
The Johns Hopkins community is encouraged to review the report on the JHU MSCHE self-study website and share feedback until Sept. 13.
The self-study process gives the institution an opportunity to comprehensively examine its education programs, services, and initiatives to determine how well they accomplish the university's goals and contribute to the university's mission. In addition, the self-study asks how well the university meets accreditation standards from MSCHE, a voluntary, nongovernmental, peer-based membership association dedicated to promoting standards of excellence and improvement in higher education.
The near-final self-study report available now for review reflects more than a year-long effort of seven working groups, with guidance from two co-chairs and a universitywide self-study steering committee, including faculty, staff, and students with broad institutional knowledge and perspectives. In addition, the committee engaged with various Hopkins affiliates to source and analyze information for the report.
The self-study report will be carefully examined by the peer evaluation team charged with judging the university's compliance with the Middle States Standards for Accreditation, Requirements of Affiliation, policies and procedures, and applicable federal regulatory requirements within the context of its institutional mission. That peer evaluation team, chaired by Princeton University President Christopher Eisgruber, will complete its site visit and evaluation Nov. 5 through 8.
The two co-chairs of the committee, Janet Schreck, senior associate vice provost for academic affairs and accreditation liaison officer, and Douglas Mao, Russ Family Professor in the Humanities in the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, say they are grateful to the steering committee and working group members for the immense time and thought they have devoted to this important work.
"The self-study is an opportunity to reflect on both the great things Hopkins has done to make the educational experience top-notch for students and the things we can do moving forward to make the experience even better," Schreck said. "Our goal with the self-study was not to just sit on our laurels and say, 'That's good enough.' We want to identify how to push ourselves and improve our robust and evolving offerings to students."
"The accreditation process, demanding as it is, represents a crucial opportunity to take a synoptic view of the immensely complex institution that is Johns Hopkins—and of its strengths, challenges, and opportunities in the coming years," Mao said.
In addition to submitting feedback to the JHU MSCHE self-study website, JHU community members can send comments by email to SelfStudy@jhu.edu.
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