SALT LAKE CITY–Nightingale College, a leader in blended learning programs for prelicensure nursing education, today announced it has been accepted as a candidate for regional accreditation by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU). The non-profit membership organization granted the pre-accreditation status after considering evidence provided by the College during 2020 and a virtual site visit last October.
“A lot of hard work across the organization went into making this official pre-accreditation status a reality and this is an important step forward in our regional accreditation journey,” said Mikhail Shneyder, President and CEO of Nightingale College. “We look forward to working with NWCCU on our mission quest to bring nursing education to underserved populations and locations.”
NWCCU’s action letter specifically commended Nightingale College in the following areas:
- Its mission to reach rural and underserved learners where they are.
- Creating a shared institutional culture of collaboration, focused on learner success.
- Its holistic and extensive wrap-around student services, delivered through the Learner Advising and Life Resources
During the candidacy review, NWCCU found Nightingale College to be meeting all accreditation eligibility criteria and recommended the institution to continue developing its system for evaluating the quality of learning, improving student learning outcomes and benchmarking student achievements against peer institutions. NWCCU will conduct a follow-up virtual accreditation candidacy visit in Spring 2022 as well as an in-person site visit to the College’s operations support center when public health conditions allow.
NWCCU is recognized by the United States Department of Education (USDE) and the Council on Higher Education (CHEA) to accredit postsecondary institutions in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and British Columbia, along with other domestic and international geographic areas. Its decision-making body consists of up to twenty-six commissioners who represent the public and the diversity of its accredited higher education institutions.
Candidate is an affiliate pre-accreditation status indicating that an institution meets the NWCCU’s eligibility requirements and is progressing toward accreditation. Recognition as a Candidate neither implies nor ensures an institution will attain accredited status with NWCCU. The accreditation process is normally a multi-year endeavor.
About Nightingale College
Founded in 2010 and headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, Nightingale College is a pioneer in distance education for prelicensure nursing; it offers nursing programs at associate’s, bachelor’s, and master’s degree levels. The College is dedicated to improving demographic, socioeconomic, and geographic access to nursing education and is enrolling learners across the United States, with supervised on-ground field experiences (SOFE) regions in Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Utah, and Wyoming. To learn more about Nightingale College, its mission and programs, visit www.nightingale.edu.
Contacts
Media Contact:
Shannon Michael, Nightingale College
smichael@nightingale.edu