The President's Briefing
What accreditation actually asks of institutional leadership — in plain language, grounded in the primary sources, short enough for a board packet. Select your school:
Medicine — what the LCME asks of you
Grounded in: LCME Functions and Structure of a Medical School, 2027-28 edition (published March 2026).
1. Your dean must be able to reach you
Element 2.3 requires that the dean have sufficient access to the university president — and that the dean's authority over the medical education program is clearly defined. If the dean can't reach you, or if nobody can say exactly what the dean controls, that's a finding. This is the single most presidential sentence in the standards.
2. The school must plan — and you should see the plan
Element 1.1 requires ongoing strategic planning and continuous quality improvement with measurable outcomes used to improve the program. Survey teams ask who sees the plan and whether it drives decisions. A plan that lives in a drawer is a citation waiting to happen.
3. Money is an accreditation issue
Element 5.1 requires financial resources that are adequate and from diverse sources to sustain the program. Element 5.2 requires the dean to have sufficient resources and budgetary authority to do the job. Budget cuts that hollow out the dean's authority don't just hurt morale — they show up in citations.
4. Integrity infrastructure
Element 1.2 requires enforced conflict-of-interest policies. Element 1.5 requires real bylaws. These are board-level documents; survey teams read them.
What your board should know
Survey teams interview institutional leadership — not just the dean. They ask about resources, planning, and the dean's authority. Governance and resource citations are institutional citations; they can't be fixed by the curriculum committee.
Questions to ask your dean
Nursing — what CCNE asks of you
Grounded in: CCNE Standards for Accreditation of Baccalaureate and Graduate Nursing Programs.
1. The program's mission must match the institution's — that's yours
Key Element I-A requires the nursing program's mission, goals, and expected outcomes to be congruent with the parent institution's and reviewed periodically. Mission drift starts at the top.
2. Fiscal resources are a leadership decision
Key Element II-A requires fiscal resources sufficient to achieve the mission, goals, and outcomes — reviewed on a defined cycle, with compensation that supports recruitment and retention. When nursing can't hire, II-A is where it lands.
3. The chief nurse administrator's authority is structural
Key Element II-E requires the chief nurse administrator to be an RN with a graduate degree — and to hold administrative authority comparable to peer unit heads. That's an organizational-design decision only senior leadership can make.
4. Space and equipment count
Key Element II-B requires sufficient physical resources — space, facilities, equipment, supplies — reviewed on a schedule. Simulation labs and clinical learning spaces are accreditation assets.
What your board should know
CCNE's resource standards (II-A, II-B) and governance standard (I-A) are institutional commitments. A nursing program can't accredit its way out of an underfunded budget.
Questions to ask your chief nurse administrator
Law — what the ABA asks of you
Grounded in: ABA Standards and Rules of Procedure for Approval of Law Schools (2026-2027).
1. The self-study is your institution's honest account — own it
Standard 204 requires the school's self-study: an institutional self-examination, standard by standard, with evidence — strengths, weaknesses, and improvement plans. The Council reads it as the institution's honest account of itself. It can't be delegated downward and signed at the top.
2. What's published about your school is public — know it
Standard 509 requires extensive public disclosures — admissions, employment outcomes, bar passage, costs. Your board should be able to discuss every number on that page, because applicants, the press, and the Council all read it.
3. Site teams talk to leadership
Accreditation site evaluations include meetings with institutional leadership. Teams probe whether resources, planning, and governance actually support the program of legal education — not just whether the paperwork says so.
What your board should know
The Council holds the institution accountable for the program of legal education. Experiential learning (Standards 303/304), assessment (314/315), and disclosures (509) all trace back to institutional commitment.
Questions to ask your dean
Every standard reference above is validated against the primary-source data in this ecosystem — no invented citations. This briefing is the executive companion to the operational dashboards: deans run the program view, presidents own the institutional view.