National Accreditation

National accreditation is another type of institutional accreditation that refers to accrediting the whole institution.

This form of accreditation is a bit different from regional accreditation.

Most notably, national accreditors are independent of each other and are not limited to a specific region of states.

National accreditors can accredit schools all over the United States as well as internationally.

Requirements for nationally accredited schools tend to be less stringent and typically focus on vocational or trade schools.

Among all the national accrediting organizations, there are only three that accredit colleges or universities which offer MBA programs.

Below is a list of national accrediting organizations that accredit institutions with MBA degrees...

• Distance Education and Training Council (DETC)
  Established: 1926, Location: Washington DC, Web: www.detc.org
  Accredits colleges and universities all over the United States and internationally. Focuses on distance learning schools.
• Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS)
  Established: 1912, Location: Washington DC, Web: www.acics.org
  Accredits colleges and universities all over the United States and internationally. Focuses on non-public career schools.
• Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges (ACCSC)
  Established: 1965, Location: Virginia, Web: www.accsc.org
  Accredits colleges and universities all over the United States and internationally. Focuses on trade and technical career schools.

Each national accrediting organization has a different scope and therefore accredits different types of institutions. DETC and ACICS are the most common of the three for accrediting istitutions with MBA programs.

Sometimes people use the term "national" when referring to specialized accreditation. This is true in the sense that specialized accreditation does have a national scope. However, national accreditation is most commonly understood to mean a form of instiuttional accrediation.