ECLA Programmes Receive Certification
 

ECLA has received notification that the college has been granted full certification of its academic programmes by the American Academy for Liberal Education, a fully-licensed and recognized accrediting association based in Washington, DC, USA. The certification is the result of a year-long process that resulted in an institutional Self-Study that demonstrated ECLA’s compliance with the rigorous criteria set by AALE for the certification of non-degree granting programmes. The standards are meant to cover a broad range of characteristics of liberal learning, including the areas of effective reasoning, breadth and depth of learning and the inclination to inquire, as well as additional categories including mission, general education, learning assessment, curriculum and qualifications for faculty and staff.

The certification came upon the recommendation of an AALE evaluation site committee that examined the Self Study and visited the ECLA campus for three days in October to talk with faculty, students, and administrators, attend classes, and verify the information provided in the Self-Study. It applies to all three ECLA programmes, the Academy Year, the Project Year, and the International Summer University, and is in effect for a term of ten years. In his letter informing ECLA of the Board’s decision, Dr. Jeffrey Wallin, President of AALE wrote: “The Board of AALE wishes me to convey its strong approval of the mission and curriculum of ECLA. It also finds the critical and encouraging comments made in the Self-Study and Site Evaluation Report to be appropriate as the College moves forward with its plans for awarding the Bachelor’s degree.”

President Laurent Boetsch expressed his satisfaction with the entire exercise: “One reason that we sought to work with AALE was the nearly complete compatibility between the standards for liberal education that they articulate in their criteria and our own thinking about the kind of education that ECLA provides. They are the only accrediting agency dedicated solely to the evaluation of liberal arts education. The Self Study process over the past year has benefited us enormously in terms of measuring just how much progress we have made to date and what we still need to do in order to strengthen ECLA as we look to the future.”
 

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This event was last updated on 08-21-2018