Accreditors Venture into the Microcredential Landscape
HEADLINES
Accreditors Venture into the Microcredential Landscape (Inside Higher Ed, September 8, 2025) Accreditation experts say it’s high time accreditors ventured into evaluating alternative credentials, both to keep up with students’ shifting preferences and to defend them from bad actors. “Reviewing microcredential programs and providers is essential for protecting students,” Nasser H. Paydar, president of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, said in an email to Inside Higher Ed. “Accrediting organizations recognized by CHEA and the U.S. Department of Education have already demonstrated their ability to review providers and programs. The review of these programs should begin as soon as possible, validating their quality, thereby protecting students.”
Education Dept.’s Rule-Making Agenda Includes Accreditation, Title VI (Inside Higher Ed, September 8, 2025) Changing the interpretation of race-based discrimination, increasing flexibility within the college accreditation system and reworking the process to yank federal financial aid eligibility for the certain civil rights violations are top priorities for Linda McMahon and the Department of Education, according to the agency’s rule-making agenda released last Thursday. Accreditation: The department wants to change the regulations for accreditation to clarify a college’s ability to change accreditors and to make it easier for the department to recognize new accreditors.
Universities Face Stricter Data Reporting Requirements Under New Trump Policy (The National Law Review, August 27, 2025). On August 7, 2025, President Trump signed a Presidential Memorandum requiring greater transparency regarding university admissions practices. The Memorandum reinforces previous executive orders and memoranda regarding DEI practices. In 2023, the Supreme Court held in Students for Fair Admission v. Harvard that the Fourteenth Amendment and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibit discrimination based on race. In the years since, however, some universities, scholarships, and accreditation organizations have sought “loopholes” and other means to circumvent the Court’s order in SFFA and continue affirmative action practices.
Reminder: Monday Deadline: CHEA’s Call for Proposals -- 2026 CHEA Annual Conference (CHEA.org) Monday, September 15, is the deadline to submit proposals for the 2026 CHEA/CIQG Annual Conference. The January 26–29, 2026, Annual Conference in Washington, D.C., will feature sessions addressing various topics related to accreditation and quality assurance. We are seeking proposals for plenary and concurrent sessions. Click on the link above for additional details.