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The new Policies and Procedures, adopted by the membership in June 2020 and effective July 2020, introduce several revisions affecting how accredited members implement changes, including these:
Chapter IV of the Policies and Procedures describes substantive changes that require petitions to the Board of Commissioners. The most common types of petitions are listed below, with submission deadlines. There will be an upload option to attach an appendix/exhibits file to the online form, although hyperlinks are preferred. Because the JotForm displays only one section at a time, the “PDF Sample … Petition” for each provides a way to view the entire form. Please allow 2–3 months between submission and action (petitions for new doctoral programs may take up to ten months if a focused visit is required).
The following petitions may be submitted April 1, July 1, September 1, or November 1:
The following petitions may be submitted April 1 or November 1:
Please email accrediting@ats.edu with any questions.
Section VI.A.6 of the Policies and Procedures describes various changes that require notifications to Commission staff, not petitions to the Board. All those types of changes are combined into three separate notification forms listed below. Because JotForm displays only one section at a time, the “PDF Sample … Notification” for each provides a way to view the entire form. Notifications may be submitted anytime, though at least 30 days prior to the anticipated change (60 days prior if adding a new degree). Your staff liaison will typically acknowledge receipt within 30 days, which means you may then implement the change.
Notes
[1] Adding a new degree requires a petition if it is in a new degree category (the degree categories are: MDiv, MA, ThM, DMin, Other
Professional Doctorate, or PhD) or represents a significant departure from the school’s currently approved degrees regarding new facilities, finances,
or faculty (see Policies and Procedures IV.D); otherwise, adding a new
degree requires a notification to Commission staff. As noted in Policies and
Procedures IV.D.1, “offering a doctoral degree in a new category may require a focused visit before approval, especially new PhD degrees (see III.D.1).” That means
the approval process for a new doctoral degree could take up to ten months from the time a petition is submitted because the Board may need to meet twice—once to authorize a focused
visit and again to review the report from that visit before making a final decision on approval.
[2] Adding, closing, relocating, or expanding an additional location (formerly called an extension site) requires a petition if the location offers at least half of a degree
(see Policies and Procedures IV.E). If the location involves at least
one-fourth but less than one-half of a degree, a notification to Commission staff is required. If the location offers less than one-fourth of a degree, no petition nor notification is
required.
[3] Offering distance (online) education courses for the first time (even if only one course), requires a petition for distance (online) education approval (see Policies and Procedures IV.F). Once granted, the level of distance education
approval (limited or comprehensive) applies to all approved degrees (see also Note 4).
[4] Implementing an educational experiment requires a petition; common types of experiments include offering more than half of a PhD degree online or offering any part of a
degree through competency-based education not based on courses or credits (see Policies and Procedures IV.G).
[5] Changing the name by which a school is listed in the ATS membership directory requires a
notification to Commission staff, not a petition to the Board. Changing the mailing address of an approved location (including its main campus) requires a notification as
well, unless the change also involves a change in physical location of a site that offers at least half of a degree, in which case a petition is required.
Please email accrediting@ats.edu with any questions.