Over the next 18 months, Brandeis will be applying for re-accreditation-a decennial process that assesses academic life at the University-from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, a consortium of more than 1,800 public and private grade schools, colleges and universities.Provost Marty Krauss and Chief Operating Officer Peter French will oversee the process of reviewing the University's infrastructure to ensure that it measures up to eleven standards set by the association's Committee on Institutions of Higher Education.

Committees will be impaneled to address topics such as student learning, University organization and governance and the general academic program. The standards required by the association, which act as guidelines for the process, cover five themes: information and technology, assessment, public disclosure, quality of the academic program and responsibility and integrity.

This process will result in a fall 2006 report to a visiting committee of faculty and administrators from other accredited schools. The evaluators will assess Brandeis' efforts and issue a report with their findings.

"We are trying to make a learning process for the University from this whole self-study activity," Krauss said. "I think we are going to learn a lot about ourselves that will be very useful know."

Brandeis' last accreditation report in 1996 stated several goals for the next decade including raising salaries for faculty and staff, developing an information technology infrastructure and enhancing the University's financial resources.

Krauss will lead several internal committees, including the one tasked with assessing student learning.

The first task for members of these committees will be planning an approach to their assigned topic. According to the provost, committees will invite members of the entire University community to contribute to the evaluation procedures.

"The thinking was that we want to involve as many faculty, staff and students as possible in the process," she said.

An academic consultant from the Boston area has also been hired to assist committee members and University administrators.

"It is helpful to have an outside perspective because it is a big process and it is consequential and you want to have strong community input into it," Krauss said.

One objective of Krauss' student-learning committee is to examine individual student performances and personal goals as well as how they adapt academically and socially to the University.

"[Brandeis is] trying to take advantage of [the reaccreditation process] to really take a good look at how the University is functioning with respect to the goals that it set out for itself," she said.

Editors' Note: The University has established a Web site about the re-accreditation process at brandeis.edu/neasc.