Core Requirement 5.1: Documenting an Alternative Approach

Core Requirement 5.1 of The Principles of Accreditation: Foundation for Quality Enhancement states:

The institution has a chief executive officer whose primary responsibility is to the institution.

If an institution is part of a system and its chief executive officer is also the chief executive officer of the system, and that institution is reviewed for reaffirmation or as part of the application for membership process, then the institution must provide information including, but not limited to, the following:

1. Job description for the chief executive officer of the institution;
2. Job description for the chief executive officer of the system;
3. Narrative describing the extent to which the chief executive officer might be said to have primary responsibility to the institution;
4. Narrative describing how, if the chief executive officer has an institution as his/her primary responsibility, the interests of the other institutions in the system are provided for and how a conflict of interest is avoided;
5. Description of relationship between the chief executive officers of all institutions in the system and the board to include processes for hiring and firing of chief executive officers of the system institutions and processes for approval or authorization of programs and missions of the institutions;
6. Description of the administrative structure of the system, detailing the reporting structure and the funding structure for all institutions in the system; and
7. Description of the extent of autonomy of the other institutions in the system.

An institution seeking reaffirmation of accreditation should include this information as part of its Compliance Certification. An institution applying for membership should include this information as part of its formal application for membership.