The Majuro-based college was on the brink of having its U.S. accreditation terminated — and losing the approximately $4 million in annual U.S. federal funding that is based on meeting U.S. academic requirements — in 2007. But last year, the U.S. Western Association of Schools and Colleges began easing academic sanctions then pending against the two-year college.
On Friday, CMI was notified it received the maximum recognition possible: a six-year term of accreditation.
“As of this past week, CMI received official recognition that its accreditation has been affirmed through 2015,” CMI President Wilson Hess said Friday.
Gone are the days of twice-yearly visits by high-powered WASC evaluation teams looking into every file drawer and assessing every program at CMI, with hefty reports due twice a year.
“We will submit a routine follow-up report on some minor matters in 2010 and a mid-term report in 2012,” said Hess, add that there will be no follow-up visit in 2012.
The granting of full accreditation to the college also opens the door for the school to launch new academic and vocational programs, which were on hold while it was under WASC sanction. Next month, CMI is gearing to launch a 10-week “Academic Boot Camp” aimed at training 70 non-college students in construction math, English, work and “life” skills so they can qualify for entry level construction jobs in the Marshall Islands or Guam, which is bracing for a more than $10 billion military build up with 8,000 U.S. Marines slated to move from Okinawa, said Hess.
