Institutional Accreditation

Purpose:

Accreditation serves several key purposes:

• Public Assurance: It assures the public that an accredited institution has been rigorously evaluated and meets or exceeds the required criteria to maintain its status.
• Continuous Improvement: The process encourages institutions to examine their own missions, goals, operations, and achievements through continuous self-study and evaluation.
• Validation: It validates institutional integrity and affirms our commitment to educational quality, student success, and institutional effectiveness. When granted, accreditation applies to the entire institution, indicating that it is substantially achieving its mission.

Lewis & Clark College is accredited by the NWCCU.

About the NWCCU (Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities)

NWCCU is our institutional accreditor and is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education to accredit public and private higher education institutions. Founded in 1917, NWCCU applies evidence-informed standards to support continuous improvement and promote student achievement and success.

The standards set by NWCCU and are the same for all institutions, although the institution defines how to demonstrate that the standards have been met. 

About the process

The accreditation process involves both an internal and external (peer) review of institutional programs and academic quality. The purpose is for quality assurance and improvement and starts with institutional self-reflection resulting in reports that are submitted to NWCCU throughout the seven-year cycle. 

The Mission and Values of Lewis & Clark College drive the self-evaluation process. We are tasked with demonstrating mission fulfillment: have we accomplished what we said we were going to accomplish?

Two reports in particular- the Evaluation of Institutional Effectiveness and the Policies, Regulations, and Financial Review are used to demonstrate missions fulfillment, along with the peer review site visit in year seven of the accreditation cycle. 

Lewis & Clark College will host the NWCCU for a site visit on October 13-15, 2025 as another way to demonstrate mission fulfillment.

Members of the LC community are encouraged to review the reports and attend the Open Forums that are part of the site visit.  

Current Accreditation Renewal Letter (2019)