The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) has approved Wichita State’s Quality Initiative Proposal for the university’s Student Success and Persistence (SSP) initiative.
WSU participates in Open Pathway, a model of accreditation from the HLC, which seeks to offer greater value to institutions and greater credibility to the public in its quality assurance. This accreditation process requires institutions to undertake a major Quality Initiative designed to suit its present concerns or aspirations. A Quality Initiative is typically designed to begin and be completed during a designated time frame, or it may be one that continues an initiative already in progress or achieve a key milestone in the work of a longer initiative. Quality Initiatives are intended to allow institutions to take risks, aim high and learn from only partial success or even failure.
SSP focuses on SEM goal three, “increase persistence rates of degree-seeking student populations” with efforts centered around the four recommendations from the National Institute for Student Success in the report commissioned by the Kansas Board of Regents. The goal is to increase retention and graduation rates for students and to narrow the equity gap between the university’s underserved and non-underserved student populations. SSP is a university-wide initiative.