What happens on a site visit?

 

A: A given school has a COE site visit at not more than a seven-year interval. More frequent site visits may be scheduled for colleges on probationary accreditation or for a developing college still under a reasonable assurance or provisional accreditation designation. Prior to the site visit, the school completes a self-study that is presented to the site visit team no later than six weeks before the visit. The goal of the self-study is to help the school recognize its strengths and challenges and to give the site team as complete knowledge of the school as possible. The site team consists of several COE site visitors or two COE observers, and an AVMA staff member. Up to two observers can also accompany a site team. The site visit lasts at least four days and includes inspection of the facilities and meetings and interviews with administration staff members, faculty, students, and standing committees such as admission and curriculum. This allows the site team to gather different opinions about the program. Upon completion of the visit the site team writes a Report of Evaluation and makes a recommendation for accreditation status which is presented to the full COE at its next meeting. The COE makes the final accreditation decision.