Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 5

knowledge - Essay ExampleThe American government has put in place a body that sees to it that before a school is mandated to operate whether as a private or public school, the school undergoes certain judging process to ensure that it meets laid down criteria and standard. This assessment process is known as accreditation. Accreditation is important in ensuring that the freedom given to people to start schools is not abused and that parents and guardians get value for the money they throw off in educating their wards. One area that the issuance of accreditation has become most popular and gained a lot of public attention is at the higher tuition take in the US. Higher Education System in US There are several types of higher education institutions in the coupled States. Some of these embarrass Research Universities, Doctorate-Granting Universities, Masters (Comprehensive) Universities and Colleges, Baccalaureate (Liberal Arts) Colleges, Associate of Arts Colleges, Professional Schools, Specialized Institutions, Postsecondary Vocational and Technical Schools. According to the U.S. Network for Education Information (USNEI), Washington (2001), current selective information indicate that there are some 2,819 institutions offering a Bachelors or higher degree 2,657 institutions offering at least an associates degree but slight than a bachelors degree and 4,927 institutions offering shorter non-degree programmes of less than two years duration. These schools offer educational credentials such as High School Diploma, Associate Degree, Certificate, Bachelors Degree, Diploma, Education Specialist, First Professional Degree, Post-Bachelors Diploma, Masters Degree, Certificate of Advanced Study and Doctorate. Thelin, J.R., Edwards, J.R & Moyen, E (2011) see the higher education system to be just more than a dumbfound of institutions that impart knowledge. To them, higher education in the United States is an established knowledge industry that represents about 3 pe rcent of the gross national product. To this effect, they claim that about every governor and legislature across the nation evokes colleges and universities as critical to a states economic and cultural development. It is for the sake of this important role that higher education plays to the United States that it is important to ensure that products that are produced by higher education institutions are products worth the market force. Accreditation Agencies for Higher Education Accreditation of schools in the United States dates back to the 1800s. According to the Accrediting Council for Independent Schools and Colleges, ACICS (2011), The first regional accrediting agencies formed in the 1880s with particular focus on educational standards and admissions procedures. The agencies kept changing process in 1996, the Council for Higher Education Accreditation took over accreditation in the United States to oversee the works of accreditation agencies like ACICS and other public and pr ivate accreditation agencies. The Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) is by and large responsible for accreditation of higher education