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UNCW Receives Accreditation Reaffirmation from SACSCOC

The University of North Carolina Wilmington’s accreditation has been reaffirmed by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.
The University of North Carolina Wilmington’s accreditation has been reaffirmed by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.
Photo: Jeff Janowski/UNCW

The University of North Carolina Wilmington’s accreditation has been reaffirmed by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, the university announced today. This decision comes with no additional reporting requirements, recognizing UNCW’s continued commitment to high academic standards at all degree levels.

"As this decision demonstrates, UNCW’s stellar faculty and staff are united in their commitment to providing students with a transformative educational experience that prepares them well for success in their professional and personal endeavors,” said Chancellor Aswani K. Volety.

The reaffirmation follows a comprehensive, multi-year review process that involved input and participation from departments, programs and services across campus. At UNCW, the Office of Institutional Research and Planning spearheaded the process with support from the Office of the Chancellor, the Office of the Provost, the Vice Chancellor for Business Affairs, and Faculty Senate.

As a part of the process, SACSCOC endorsed the university’s Quality Enhancement Plan. Seahawks Advancing Interdisciplinary Learning (SAIL) focuses on interdisciplinary learning, which intentionally incorporates skills and approaches from different fields to generate new insights about pressing global challenges. By engaging in and creating a collaboration between several academic disciplines, students learn to articulate and analyze different perspectives, acknowledge each discipline’s strengths and limitations, and use newly developed skills to develop interconnected solutions for complex issues.

“The reaffirmation of our university and the endorsement of our Quality Enhancement Plan, recognizes that UNCW is at the forefront of providing important, relevant and high-quality education to our students,” said James J. Winebrake, Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. “SAIL will sharpen our university’s focus on preparing students to address challenging and complex issues throughout our region and around the world.”

Accreditation plays a significant role in UNCW’s commitment to academic excellence, enabling the institution to offer recognized degrees, access federal financial aid programs, and maintain its position among the best public higher education institutions in the nation. UNCW was originally granted accreditation from SACSCOC in 1952. UNCW was approved to offer Distance Education programs in 1998. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges is the regional body for the accreditation of degree-granting higher education institutions in the Southern states.


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