The Mission of NAAE

The institution administers policies that set the expectation for ethical behavior while allowing for freedom of thought and independence in the pursuit of truth. The institution promotes the formation of ethics, integrity and global awareness and ensures its constituents maintain a respect for human dignity. Operational and academic policies are publicly available and are non-discriminatory yet preserve the institution’s mission and identity. Institutional governance and leadership act in the best interests of the institution and its students and in a manner that is free from undue external influences.

Institutional integrity is demonstrated through contribution to the greater community as an intellectual, organizational, and knowledge-rich resource. Policies are in place that facilitate the sharing of expertise and competence with other education enterprises, scholars, and researchers as well as members of the civic, business, and regulatory communities.

The institution engages in mission-driven institutional evaluation and planning that explicitly focuses on advancing academic excellence and innovation while respecting individual rights for open inquiry. The institution integrates strategic planning, academic assessment, program review, student achievement, student experience, resource allocation, enterprise risk, and regulatory compliance within a coherent institutional evaluation system. The institution regularly practices a self-reflective system of meta evaluation. The institutional effectiveness planning process enlists participation of internal and external constituents and fosters innovation for the advancement of organizational performance and academic excellence. The institution administers effective systems of managing enterprise risk, internal controls, and regulatory compliance.

The institution’s organizational structure supports achievement of its mission, with governance and leadership maintaining responsibility for quality throughout the organization using relevant qualitative and quantitative evidence to evaluate institutional performance, identify areas requiring attention, allocate resources, and verify the effectiveness of improvement actions. The governing board is comprised of individuals with a range of backgrounds that reflect the mission and academic offerings of the institution who collectively demonstrate integrity in decision-making independent of excessive political and cultural pressures.

Financial resources are managed transparently and ethically and demonstrate stability and adequacy that allows the institution to fulfill its mission and deliver a student experience that is commensurate with the student investment of funds, time, intellect and spirit. Physical and technological resources are evaluated and renewed to provide excellence in delivery of education and enhancing student experience, remaining sufficient and sustainable to support institutional mission, educational quality, student success, and responsible operations.

The institution maintains mission-aligned academic systems that assure student preparation for citizenship and careers, personal development, creation of a broad advanced knowledge base, and stimulation of mission-aligned research and innovation. Program offerings provide rigorous learning experiences fundamental to the formation of the individual person. Undergraduate programs include a core that engages students actively in a progressively complex and balanced inclusion of the hard and social sciences as well as classical humanities and arts, and align with student achievement of foundational literacy, data literacy, thought literacy, and social literacy. Programs require a level of rigor appropriate to the degree level and actively engage students in progressive achievement of disciplinary knowledge, inquiry, application, synthesis, discernment, judgement, communication, and independent thought. Graduate programs demonstrate advanced rigor of scholarship and mastery of disciplinary knowledge. Intended learning outcomes are defined with relevance to the institutional mission, are published, and are regularly evaluated and enhanced.

Processes for curriculum review and renewal involve appropriate faculty, administration, and external constituents; are practiced routinely; and incorporate analysis of a broad range of quantifiable data including results of learning outcome evaluation and student achievement measures as well as applicable market study. Program review policies demand innovation in content and pedagogy based on analysis of real data both internally and externally sourced.

The institution maintains abundant, diverse, and relevant learning resources appropriate for the programs and degree levels offered. Resources are sufficient to support dynamic student and faculty research and facilitate innovation in scholarship.

Higher education is the application of academic excellence in an environment that supports formation of the whole individual in an environment that maximizes the student experience while preserving the mission and identity of the institution. The institution is committed to the development of the whole student and their health, safety, and well-being. The institution effectively provides services that maximize the value and experience for students and support its mission. Admission practices ensure student intention aligns with the institution’s goals for student achievement, and ensure students have foundational knowledge to be successful at the level of degree they are entering. Comprehensive student and career services guide students’ discovery of post-graduation goals: providing support to ensure the educational path aligns and facilitating pathways for professional pursuit. Through a range of available services and activities relevant to its identity, the institution demonstrates a commitment to supporting student freedom of thought and expression and enforces behaviors that respect the dignity of all humankind. Institutions sponsoring collegiate athletic programs monitor participant academic achievement and related metrics to ensure athletics receive secondary emphasis to academics. Co-curricular opportunities are available for student participation in governance and leadership.