Tech President Phil Oldham said two consecutive perfect 10-year accreditation cycles show the university’s growing academic excellence.
Oldham said the accreditation process is a mandatory requirement for any university to function and remain eligible for federal financial aid programs. Oldham said the review involves an off-site committee and an on-site team that evaluates how the university meets specific accreditation principles.
“It speaks volumes for the integrity of the institution, quite honestly,” Oldham said. “I mean there’s a lot of ways universities monitor quality, but accreditation is a pretty big one, a substantial one, because you’re held to account by external reviewers.”
Oldham said the university has been preparing for this specific accreditation cycle for more than two years with heavy involvement from faculty and staff. Oldham said the reviewers are peers from similar institutions across the South who understand exactly where to look for potential operational issues.
“Our goal is always to score a hundred on the test and we work really hard to do that,” Oldham said. “So I see all the effort that goes into this. I mean, this is not something that happens spontaneously.”
Oldham said this achievement represents a flawless 20-year stretch of performance that likely puts the school in the top three or four percent of institutions in the region.
“It’s extremely in-depth,” Oldham said. “They open up the hood, pull the engine, kick the tires, slam the doors, you name it, they’ll look at it.”
Oldham said the successful review coincides with other record-breaking metrics for the university, including a historic high of more than 2,600 graduates in the last year. Oldham said Tennessee Tech currently ranks as the number one public university in the state for starting salaries while maintaining the lowest student debt.
As part of the external review process, SACSCOC will speak with current students, a practice that Oldham said he embraces.
“Our students are our best salesmen,” Oldham said. “The students at Tech love their experience here, they speak favorably about it. I’ll gladly put students out in front of any group of individuals to talk about the benefits of a Tech education and they do a wonderful job as well.”
Oldham said the accreditation status is what allows students to access Pell grants and both subsidized and unsubsidized federal loans. Oldham said without this regional approval, the cost of education for students would increase significantly.
As the university stacks milestones and positive metrics, Oldham said the work is still not finished in improving the university’s standing as a premiere institution.
“No matter how good Tennessee Tech is today, it’s got to get better in the future and that’s what we try to do,” Oldham said.
