Policies and Procedures for Appeal

Incorporates all changes approved by the Accreditation Council on January 13, 2023
Chapter 1	General Provisions
Article 1	In accordance with Article 7.2 of the Accreditation Council Bylaws, the Accreditation Council delegates the Appeal and Review Committee, hereafter called the Committee, to prescribe the Policies and Procedures for Appeal to ensure the rights and welfare of the university and program seeking accreditation.
Chapter 2	Request for Appeal
Article 2	Program that receives a “Not to Accredit” action could appeal to the Committee within two weeks of receiving the accreditation action.
Article 3	The Committee shall only accept request for appeal for the following two reasons: Errors in procedures: Members of the accreditation team have violated policies and procedures for accreditation during the review process. Errors in fact: Data and other information cited by the accreditation team are incorrect and resulted in program receiving a “Not to Accredit” action. Should the incorrect data and information were indeed provided by the program, the program cannot request for appeal.
Article 4	Program intends to request for an appeal, must fill out the appeal application form, pay the associated fees, and submit the application with the official approval of its university.
Chapter 3	Appeal Procedures and Decision
Article 5	The Committee shall call for an appeal meeting within one month of receiving an appeal application to review the case.
Article 6	After the appeal meeting, the Office of the Executive Director shall assist to furnish an Appeal Decision Statement and officially present it to the university of the program under review on behalf of the Accreditation Council.
Article 7	Contents of the appeal decision statement must address the cause of appeal, facts finding, appeal process, basis for appeal decision, appeal decision, etc... There are two kinds of appeal decisions: “Appeal Approved” and “Appeal Denied.”
Article 8	The appeal process is to remain confidential. When necessary, the accreditation team convener, co-convener, chair, program evaluator, and representative of the program may be invited to be interviewed or to provide written statement.
Article 9	When an appeal is denied, the involved program may not apply for appeal again within the same accreditation cycle.
Chapter 4	Implementation of the Appeal Decision
Article 10	When an appeal is approved, the accreditation committee must appoint an accreditation team to re-review the program according to the appeal decision statement and hold an accreditation action meeting to deliver the accreditation action.
Article 11	Number of newly appointed accreditation team members are not limited by the Procedures for Accreditation of Programs but must not be all from the original accreditation team. Program may submit names of individuals from the original accreditation team to be avoided.
Article 12	Procedures of the re-review must abide by the Procedures for Accreditation of Programs.
Article 13	After the accreditation commission delivers the accreditation action, the Office of the Executive Director shall assist to furnish an Appeal Execution Action Statement and officially present it to the university of the program under review on behalf of the Accreditation Council.
Article 14	Contents of the action statement must include the appeal processes, findings, accreditation actions of the re-review, etc.
Chapter 5	Supplementary Provisions
Article 15	Fee schedule for appeal, including registration fee, re-visit fee, and other related fees, is stipulated separately from the standard accreditation fee schedule.
Article 16	Members of the Committee must abide by the policies on confidentiality and voluntary excuse themselves should there is a potential conflict of interest.
Article 17	This document and any revision thereto shall be formulated by the Committee and promulgated for implementation upon approval of the Accreditation Council.