Accreditation of postsecondary institutions, programs and courses is an expression of confidence in the basic integrity of that institution, program or course. It expresses confidence in the ability and determination of an oganization to perform to a level of excellence that sustains program and course relevance through a process of continual updating and improvement. This is the goal of WAVE accreditation. With that in mind, let us talk about the difference between standard accreditation and that granted through the WAVE Commission on Higher Education (CHE).

YOU KNOW, IT’S FUNNY…

There are countless people want to be ‘the first’ at something. Many want to be pioneers, but most will only step into that new frontier if they know hundreds or thousands of others have preceded them into the unknown. So it is with academic accreditation. While we have a very comprehensive, detailed, specific and thorough accreditation process, it maintains a somewhat broader scope than traditional and conventional commissions.

Where tradition mandates a rote process in order to measure learning retention, WAVE has developed a process which includes – in addition to those components that are the very heart of virtually every DoE recognized accreditation commission - components that are far more difficult to quantify because they are unable to be taught and learned in a conventional, rote-based institution. Still, such components must be scrutinized simply because they are the very elements that differentiate between a rote-based static institution that teaches and graduates the future employee, and a reality-based dynamic institution that facilitates learning for future employers.

A NEW WAVE OF CHANGE…

More than a decade of hard work and thought went into determining the most effective and beneficial way to incorporate the principles of entrepreneurship and entreprenology to create, develop and refine an appropriate accreditation process. Even more went into deciding the direction that should be taken with regarding to gaining recognition that would justify what we saw, what we learned along the way and how we perceived the future of education and training given the profound change that we witnessed during the IT revolution. Since we were founded specifically to make a difference in the world through the men and women known as entrepreneurs, entreprenologists and Visioneers our path was set for us.

If we have learned nothing else in the 26+ years since WAVE’s founding, it is that the people who comprise any organization are the only things that define and give value to that organization. They define and create its value. They shape and maintain its integrity. They determine its direction and they guide it.

THE PRACTITIONER OR THE THEORIST…

It is, then, the practitioner that has the knowledge and experience to determine what constitutes value in terms of education and training, not a career employee (bureaucrat) with little or no understanding of what it takes to be an entrepreneur, an entreprenologist or a business person of any description. How would an employee of the DoE even begin to understand – let alone make a value judgment on - what a Steve Jobs or a Bill Gates or a Sam Walton or an Oprah Winfrey or a Richard Branson needed in the way of any formal education or training? The short answer is … nothing.

The decision was made, therefore, to build the credibility of WAVE on the knowledge, experience, integrity and achievements of its membership. To decide to follow in the footsteps of every institution ahead of us would have been to acquiesce to the status quo. There is safety in conformity, but there is no honor in conformity nor does it promote socioeconomic growth.

Let there be no doubt that the road behind and the road ahead is filled with challenges, but then nothing worth doing is seldom easy. It is you, our members – practitioners rather than theorists – that have the expertise, knowledge, understanding and the experience needed to determine whether or not a course or a program has value. As members of WAVE you may be asked to serve as a member of the Commission on Higher Education or the Professional Certification Board within WAVE. Don’t worry. We have every confidence that you have the skills necessary to make the right call if asked to do so.

WHAT DOES WAVE ACCREDITATION STAND FOR?

WAVE accreditation, therefore, signifies that accredited organizations, programs, and/or courses meet the high standards of quality and excellence as set forth by the WAVE Commission on Higher Education. The fact that an institution receives a grant of accreditation through the Commission is not necessarily indicative of that institution's standing within the educational community as a whole. It is, however, indicative of the fact that there is committed and voluntary adherence to the entreprenologically focused standards that are a fundamental part of WAVE and its accreditation process.

That assurance means that there is ongoing compliance and an understanding that change is a constant that must be continuously addressed in order for accredited institutions, progams and courses to remain real-world relevant with real-time facility. As Gareth Pugh once suggested in his now famous quote, it is better to stop investing in the tedium of the status quo and opt instead to risk what it takes to bring about needed, positive and timely change.