NMC aims to complete self-study report by summer

 The president of the Northern Marianas College said that the institution is still working on its self-study report, one of the requirements of the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges, which is expected to be finished this summer.

Typically held every six years between an institution’s full accreditation terms, the self-study report is aimed at promoting institution-wide reflection about educational quality and student learning and in identifying an action plan to address areas of growth until the next self-study.

Dr. Sharon Y. Hart said Friday after the opening ceremony for the NMC Charter Day celebration that the accreditation status is one “major focus” at the institution.

NMC, the only community college in the CNMI, remains on probation with the ACCJC until such time it resolves three of the original 11 concerns identified last year, plus two new deficiencies.

Although the college has until Oct. 15 to submit the report, Hart said they are targeting to complete it “over the summer months.” That would be June, July, or August.

“We’re looking forward to the [accreditation] team visit in the fall, speaking in front of the commission in January, and getting the results in February,” Hart told Saipan Tribune.

Besides the accreditation, Hart said that another major focus is NMC’s five-year strategic planning process.

The president disclosed that they are expecting to host a “key leader” from the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems or NCHEMS in July.

NCHEMS is a private nonprofit organization with the mission to improve strategic decision making in higher education for states and institutions in the United States and abroad.

“Their goal is to help state by state to focus on higher education, getting the state government and the business community to work together,” said Hart, adding that the official was recently in Greece to help the nation look at their whole higher education system.

According to Hart, the visiting NCHEMS official will help NMC with its five-year strategic plan.

“We’re hoping that the top officials on this island, the top business leaders working with the college, are all going to sit down, not only determining and setting that direction for where the college is going to need to be in the next five years but our direction has to be based on where the entire CNMI is going,” she added.