Assessment and Accreditation

Assessment

Academic and programmatic assessment at Duke are central to our institutional mission to provide the highest quality education possible. Assessment efforts include evaluating institutional effectiveness, program quality, faculty quality, and student educational outcomes. To be effective evaluators of our programs, we have developed an assessment relevant to each criteria that includes establishing program goals, setting achievement targets, identifying metrics, establishing data capture regimes, communicating findings to decision makers, documenting data-driven actions taken for program improvement, and adapting program metrics to capture the effects of the new initiatives.

Academic assessment is conducted at the program and the school level. The School Assessment Representatives Group coordinates each school’s academic assessment and shares best practices between the schools. The provost-appointed Committee for Assessment of Educational and Administrative Support oversees and provides feedback on assessment of administrative and academic services.

For additional information about the assessment resources, please contact Molly Goldwasser, Associate Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, at molly.goldwasser@duke.edu(link sends e-mail).

Accreditation

Duke University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) to award baccalaureate, masters, doctorate, and professional degrees. Contact the Commission on Colleges at 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, Georgia 30033-4097 or call 404-679-4500 for questions about the accreditation of Duke University.

Reaffirmation of accreditation occurs every ten years, with a five year interim review including a report on the progress of the Quality Enhancement Plan. General information on the overall process may be found in the SACSCOC Handbook for Reaffirmation of Accreditation. 

Duke's last reaffirmation of accreditation was conducted in 2019. 

In addition to the decennial and mid-point reviews, Duke maintains compliance with policies defined and enforced by SACSCOC. Some of these policies require periodic reporting to our accreditor. The most common policy for which we have to report is Substantive Change. 

For further information on the accreditation process or products, please call Associate Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, Molly Goldwasser, Duke University's liaison to SACSCOC, at 919-684-0731, or email her at molly.goldwasser@duke.edu(link sends e-mail).