2010 Self-Study

At its June, 2010, meeting, the Middle States Association Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) reconfirmed Franklin College’s U.S. accreditation at the culmination of a ten-year review cycle. During the last two years of that period, Franklin community members produced a 200-page Self-Study Report which a team of experts from MSCHE read and evaluated. The team, consisting of professors and administrators from peer institutions such as Swarthmore College, Beloit College, the American University of Kuwait, Arcadia University, and Muhlenberg College, came to campus for an intensive three days of interviews and document inspection. In the Evaluation Overview of their final report, the visitation team wrote:

The team concluded that Franklin College meets all fourteen standards for accreditation established by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.

Franklin is commended for the quality and honesty of the Self-Study. The Self-Study has a single voice and is well organized, well documented, and well written.

MSCHE is one of six regional accrediting bodies in the United States which represent the universally accepted gold standard for quality higher education. Franklin has enjoyed MSCHE accreditation since 1975. With this most recent favorable review, the College emerges from the Self-Study process with even greater confidence in its ability to fulfill its mission of providing a unique brand of international liberal education thanks to the quality of its curriculum, faculty, students, and staff, and to the financial and administrative stability of the organization.

In the words of the Report itself, the 2010 Self-Study process represented “one of the largest mobilizations of community talent and participation in the institution’s history.”  All full-time faculty, all members of the President’s extended cabinet, numerous staff, a large number of individual students and student organizations, representative members of the Board of Trustees, alumni, and outside participants all contributed in significant ways. The Report gave evidence of progress through increased quality of the faculty at Franklin, improved financial management and auditing, curricular enhancements, and improvements in student persistence to graduation. Other positive elements included strategic organizational restructuring and further development of a Strategic Plan as well as strides in information technology and in assessment practices of student learning and institutional effectiveness. The Report also identified key challenges and next steps for the institution, including Master-level programs, enrollment management, continuing progress in assessment, and continuing attention to financial stability.

The visitation team report seconded these findings, citing significant accomplishments and making suggestions for further progress. Commendations and significant accomplishments taken verbatim from the team report include:

• “Since 2006, Franklin has developed and implemented a mission-driven strategic plan.”

• “Franklin has created a new [general education] core…, new majors, and a new office to integrate liberal learning and engagement with real-world contexts. These are commendable efforts to advance the educational offerings of and general education at Franklin.”

• “FYE [the First-Year Experience] is an assessment success story. […] It reflects all that is best about the College: its interdisciplinary curriculum, its internationalism, and its faculty’s care for its students.”

• “The attention of the faculty, staff, and administrators to the overall success of students is noteworthy and reinforces the commitment to the personal and intellectual development of each student.”

• “The dedication of the staff, while limited in resources and time, is a strength of the Franklin experience for students.”

• “Full-time and part-time faculty have been added as the enrollment of the College has increased.”

• “There is sufficient faculty involvement in both research and the scholarship of teaching to be granted Swiss university recognition of its B.A. programs.”

• “The College should be commended for its continued and significant investment in its physical plant [and for] a commitment to aggressive debt reduction to provide capacity for borrowing for future capital projects.”

• “In the past five years, Franklin has made significant progress in integrating assessment at all levels of the institution. Assessment tools and practices are consistent with best practices.”

The team also suggested next steps for continued progress, including:

• Improve assessment of student-learning outcomes from Academic Travel and the Core Curriculum.

• Consider the creation of a full-time position for directing institutional research and outcomes assessment.

• Develop an enrollment management plan.

• Establish “specific learning outcomes and a meaningful set of rubrics for student leadership roles.”

• Create “mechanisms for professional development experiences for staff to engage with colleagues on other international liberal arts campuses.”

• Coordinate “an integrated communication system at the level of services and programs that are directly responding to students’ expectations and needs.”

• Develop a strategy to “a) increase the diversity of the faculty to countries and cultures other than those of Europe and North America; b) address the need for more full-time faculty; c) define the process by which new faculty positions are determined.”

• “The Board of Trustees should establish a self-assessment process to include a critical analysis of the Board committees and their membership rosters.”

• “Franklin should consider hiring a Director of Human Resources.”

Franklin began acting as soon as the summer of 2010 to address the suggestions and recommendations of the visitation team, most significantly by hiring Ford Shanahan as Director of Employee Relations and Director of Business Development and by changing Associate Dean Andrew Starcher’s title and job portfolio to include Assessment and Planning.

The team concluded its report with a recommendation that Franklin direct more resources “to support systematic and sustained assessment practices, better coordination and dissemination of findings and, most importantly, the development of direct measures to evaluate student learning across the institution.” The Commission, in making its final continuing accreditation decision, picked up this recommendation and has asked the College to produce a progress report by April, 2012, showing improvement in this area.

For more information, see the following attached documents:

MSCHE Evaluation Team Final Report
Franklin College Switzerland Self-Study Report