The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) is an institutional accreditor for quality assurance in higher education. SACSCOC accredits institutions that award associate, baccalaureate, master’s, or doctoral degrees, including those offered via distance and correspondence education, and direct assessment within these institutions. It serves as the common denominator of shared values and practices among its members in the United States and international institutions of higher education approved by the SACSCOC Executive Council, Board of Trustees, and the Appeals Committee of the College Delegate Assembly.
The mission of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges is to assure the educational quality and improve the effectiveness of its member institutions.
Accreditation by SACSCOC signifies that the institution (1) has a mission appropriate to higher education, (2) has resources, programs, and services sufficient to accomplish and sustain that mission, and (3) maintains clearly specified educational objectives that are consistent with its mission and appropriate to the degrees its offers, and that indicate whether it is successful in achieving its stated objectives.
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges has six core values. They are:
• Integrity
• Continuous Quality Improvement
• Peer Review/Self-regulation
• Accountability
• Student Learning
• Transparency
To serve as the premier model for shaping and ensuring the quality of higher education throughout the world.
SACSCOC adopted a new formal Strategic Planning process in 2012, based upon individual units within the organization supporting broad goals. In 2017, this process was modified to a more integrated approach, with action committees made up of representatives across organizational units working together in support of the mission, strategic goals, and objectives of SACSCOC. For more information or to review the current Plan, please click here.