Accredited Distance Learning: An Overview

If you’re pursuing a degree from an accredited distance learning institution, being completely sure of your online university’s accreditation is a must.  A fake accreditation not only means a waste of time, money, and effort on your part, employers would also be unlikely to value your online degree.  Another hard fact is you’ll not be allowed to transfer credits to another institution.  Additionally, the program you undertook may not have provided you the rigorous and quality educational experience.

We can’t stress enough the importance of enrolling in an accredited distance learning institution, even if it means paying more for a quality education.  Remember that an online degree is an alternative to traditional means of obtaining a degree.  Hence, you should take it seriously as you would when studying in a brick-and-mortar university.

Below, we provide basic information you need to know initially to help you make an informed decision in choosing a college or university for your online degree.

What is accreditation?
Accredited distance learning institutions has gone through a validation process, by an accreditation institution, and evaluated against established standards to ensure a high level education quality.  It’s accomplished through a peer-review process in which faculty members from an accredited institution conducts the evaluation for online colleges and universities seeking new accreditation or renewal. 

In most countries, accreditation practices are conducted by the government.  Standards by which online education institutions may vary from state to state or from one country to another, but they generally assess the vision, mission, and goal of these institutions, including:

• Objectives
• types of resources
• resource allocation
• admission requirements
• student support services
• quality of faculty and educational offerings

Should I care about accreditation?
A school’s accreditation tells you so much about the education quality you are about to have. It’s quite a big risk to enroll yourself in a non-accredited distance learning institutions for the above-mentioned reasons.  The essential point is to understand accreditation and learning to distinguish and avoid “diploma mills” (unaccredited institutions that grant without properly ensuring students are qualified).

How can I am enrolling in an accredited distance learning institution?
Start by doing a search in the listings of national and regional accrediting agencies, or check with the Council for Higher Education (or your country’s equivalent) to see if the school is there.