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Non-credit educational courses, programs, and activities in post-secondary education have increased significantly in recent years. It is expected that an institution of higher education will play a primary role in providing relevant continuing education programs of quality for the professions, business and industry, and the public in general. They can also provide guidance to others who will be producing similar programs outside of the traditional institutional framework. |
The Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, supportive of the important public and community service functions of higher education institutions, commends the variety of non-credit adult, extension, and continuing education opportunities provided by many accredited and candidate institutions. These are integral parts of such institutions’ total education program, designed to fulfill stated objectives and to meet their responsibilities to constituents. |
Where such offerings are included in an institution’s educational program, careful attention needs to be given to developing a comprehensive record system which gives appropriate recognition to the individual student and also properly accounts for the institutional effort and resources expended. |
Among the systems currently in use is the Continuing Education Unit (CEU), an adaptable unit of measure for non-credit activities. The CEU can be used to record an individual’s participation in formal classes, courses, and programs as well as in nontraditional modes of non-credit education, including various forms of independent, informal, and experiential study and learning. |
The CEU or comparable measures apply only to non-credit courses, programs, and experiences, however, and care must be taken to prevent uses for which they are not intended or which would distort their limited purposes. It is especially important that the CEU or comparable units not be used to inhibit or impede educational innovation and experimentation. |
Adopted 1975 |