HLC has established four Criteria statements, as outlined below, each including Core Components.  An institution must present reasonable and representative evidence of meeting each Criterion.
Criterion One: Mission
Criterion Two: Integrity: Ethical and Responsible Conduct
Criterion Three: Teaching and Learning for Student Success,
Criterion Four: Sustainability: Institutional Effectiveness, Resources and Planning
(link each criterion directly to HLC website for criterion definitions)
 

HLC Accreditation is one of the cornerstones of our commitment to providing a quality education experience at BSC. The criteria established by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) serve as a benchmark that we rigorously adhere to, ensuring that our students, parents, and potential employers can have confidence in the value of a degree from our institution.
Through HLC Accreditation, we demonstrate our dedication to maintaining high standards of academic excellence, faculty expertise, and student support services. By meeting these criteria, we assure stakeholders that our graduates have received a top-tier education that prepares them for career success and beyond.
At BSC, we view HLC Accreditation as more than just a badge of honor—it's a testament to our ongoing commitment to continuous improvement and accountability. By aligning our practices with HLC Criteria, we strive to provide an educational experience that meets and exceeds the expectations of our students, parents, and potential employers.
With HLC Accreditation as a foundation, we proudly offer a quality education that empowers our graduates to thrive in a competitive global landscape.
 

Our mission as a polytechnic institution focuses on student success through the delivery of affordable, flexible, high-quality, experiential learning enhanced by public-private partnerships. We provide accessible, high-quality education that transforms the lives of our students and enhances the communities we serve.
We ensure that our mission is understood broadly through various initiatives:

• BILTs: Our Business and Industry Leadership Teams (BILTs) assist in building our programs and shape our educational offerings, ensuring they align with our mission and meet the needs of our students and industry partners.
• Marketing Messages: Mission-driven language is included in our marketing messages, ensuring that our values and goals are communicated effectively to our students, staff, faculty, partners and the community.
• Connecting Students to Industry: We connect students to future employers through internships, externships, and apprenticeships, providing real-world experiences that align with our mission.

Bismarck State College offers degrees both online and on-campus, providing synchronous and asynchronous options to accommodate diverse student needs.

Mission Development and Review: Our mission is developed, reviewed and improved over time through a collaborative process. As we shift our goals as an institution, such as our recent transition to becoming a polytechnic institution, our mission is updated to reflect these changes.

Articulation of the Mission: Students, faculty, staff and external constituents can articulate our mission, which is ensured through various methods:

• Presented when new BILT teams are established.
• Posted in every building on-campus.
• Posted in the “About” section of our BSC website.
• Included in all syllabi.
• Shared during our new employee onboarding process

Incorporation of Mission into Instruction: Our mission is incorporated into instruction through:

• Inclusion in all syllabi.
• Experiential learning opportunities provide hands-on experiences that align with our mission.

These efforts ensure that our mission is understood and actively supported and integrated into all aspects of our institution.
 

HLC Criteria 2 underscores the importance of integrity, ethics, and responsible conduct in all aspects of BSC’s operations and emphasizes BSC’s commitment to upholding these principles in its pursuit of excellence in polytechnic education.

• BSC establishes and follows policies and processes to ensure fair and ethical behavior on the part of its governing board, administration, faculty and staff
• BSC presents itself clearly and completely to its students and to the public
• BSC’s governing board is autonomous and makes decisions in the institution's best interest to comply with board policies and ensure the BSC’s integrity.
• BSC is committed to academic freedom and freedom of expression in the pursuit of truth in teaching and learning
• BSC’s policies and procedures call for the responsible acquisition, discovery and application of knowledge by its faculty, staff and students

This criterion assesses BSC’s commitment to maintaining the highest standards of integrity, ethics, and responsible conduct in all its activities, including teaching, service, and administration.

• Ethical Governance and Leadership: BSC must demonstrate strong ethical leadership at all levels, with governance structures that promote integrity, transparency, and accountability. Leadership should uphold ethical standards in decision-making processes and foster a culture of integrity throughout the institution.
• Academic Integrity: BSC should promote academic honesty and integrity among students, faculty, and staff. This includes clear policies and procedures for addressing academic misconduct, promoting a culture of academic honesty, and providing resources for ethical decision-making.
• Financial Integrity: BSC  should maintain sound financial management practices, including transparency in financial reporting, compliance with relevant regulations and standards, and responsible stewardship of financial resources to support the BSC's mission and goals.
• Ethical Behavior and Community Engagement: BSC should engage with our community in a manner consistent with ethical principles, fostering mutually beneficial partnerships and contributing positively to the social, economic, and cultural well-being.
• Continuous Improvement: BSC should continuously assess and improve its policies, procedures, and practices related to ethical conduct, incorporating stakeholder feedback and best practices.

HLC is concerned with BSC’s adherence to ethical principles, transparency, and accountability in decision-making processes and interactions with all stakeholders, including students, faculty, staff and community. Examples below:

Human Resources Finances Executive Council Decisions Transparency of Communications Institutional Effectiveness

Co-Curricular Activities Academic Freedom Governance Structure Student Support Services Data Integrity

Evidence for Criterion 2 ensures to HLC that BSC completes its work to support its mission:

• Without excessive ruling or overreach
• According to policies, processes, expectations, and
• Exhibits a culture that governs Financial, Personnel, Academic, and Auxiliary Enterprises that ensure Institutional Integrity

Criterion 3 ensures that BSC’s courses and programs offered by the institution are challenging and meet high academic standards. It means that students are provided with intellectually stimulating coursework that requires critical thinking, problem-solving, and mastery of the subject matter.

Criterion 3 assesses the institution's capacity for conducting systematic program reviews to evaluate the quality, relevance, and effectiveness of its educational offerings. It necessitates establishing clear processes for program evaluation, including the definition of key performance indicators, data collection methods, and analysis mechanisms. Additionally, it scrutinizes the institution's ability to leverage review findings to guide decision-making, promote continuous improvement, and align with accreditation standards and institutional goals.

In alignment with Criterion 3, which prioritizes academic quality, continuous improvement, and student success, BSC has revised and reintroduced its program review process, now termed Discipline Review. This faculty-driven process, facilitated by Institutional Effectiveness & Research (IE&R), managed by the Assistant Deans, and directed by the academic Deans and VPAA, operates on a three-year cycle, incorporating a comprehensive program/pathway Self-study, Action Plan, Implementation and Evaluation phases. The Self-study aims to ensure our programs are current, industry-relevant, effectively delivered, and keeping up with the changing dynamics of higher education and workforce requirements. Through this process, we identify areas for improvement (Self-study), implement planned improvement initiatives (Action Plans), and assess the effectiveness of the improvements (Evaluation phase). This iterative approach fosters a culture of continuous quality improvement, and accountability, equipping students with high-quality educational experiences that prepare them for successful careers and further academic pursuits.

Moreover, the Discipline Review is vital for accreditation reaffirmation, demonstrating BSC's commitment to academic quality, continuous improvement, and compliance with HLC standards.
This criterion focuses on ensuring that the programs offered by the institution actively involve students in activities such as researching, evaluating information, and expressing their ideas effectively. It emphasizes the development of flexible skills that can be applied in various contexts, preparing students for a rapidly changing world.
This criterion ensures that the institution has qualified faculty and staff members capable of delivering high-quality education and support services. It means having a skilled and diverse team of educators and professionals dedicated to helping students succeed in their academic endeavors.

Criterion 3 also emphasizes the importance of providing students with the resources they need to succeed academically, such as libraries, laboratories, technology, and support services. It also involves supporting faculty members with resources and professional development opportunities to enhance their teaching effectiveness and support student learning.
Criterion 3 further emphasizes the importance of an institution's commitment to the educational outcomes of its students through ongoing assessment of student learning. This criterion is integral to evaluating the relevance and effectiveness of the educational offerings at BSC and aligns with our dedication to academic quality, continuous improvement, and student success.

BSC conducts assessments in both academic and co-curricular programs annually, focusing on Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs) and Institutional Essential Learning Outcomes (IELOs). While PLOs are specific to each program, IELOs represent the collective knowledge, skills, and abilities that students are expected to acquire throughout their overall experience at our college. This dual focus ensures that the assessment process is holistic, addressing the range of our student learning and development in the college.

All academic and co-curricular programs at Bismarck State College (BSC) are supported by detailed assessment plans. These plans are essential for guiding the assessment process; they identify Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs), establish criteria for measurement, and outline methods for data collection. This structured approach to data collection empowers faculty to evaluate student learning comprehensively, enabling them to develop and implement effective action plans for improvements. The iterative cycle of assessment, action planning, and implementation fosters continuous improvement, ensuring that students achieve the intended learning outcomes of their programs.
 

Criterion 4 requires BSC’s resources, structures, policies, procedures and planning enable it to fulfill its mission, improve the quality of its educational programs, and respond to future challenges and opportunities.

BSC’s Strategic Enrollment Management (SEM) Team contributes to the college’s strategic priorities while strengthening BSC’s mission to provide affordable, accessible, and quality programs and services for our diverse students and community. The core of BSC’s SEM Team is student success. The BSC SEM Leadership Team has created SEM Working Groups. 

BSC SEM Working Groups focuses on a section of the comprehensive student enrollment pipeline. The four BSC SEM Working Groups are: the Prospective Student Working Group, the Incoming Student Working Group, the Student Engagement Working Group, and the Student Re-enrollment Working Group. BSC also uses the following executive workflow. First, SEM Plan Executive Council members meet with their respective teams to report and discuss the attainment of lag and lead measures, as well as adjust and modify strategies as needed. Next, SEM Plan team members meet with respective departmental and faculty teams to report, discuss, and review the attainment of lag and lead measures, as well as strategies. 

Planned quarterly update is provided by SEM Plan Executive Council team members to the institution’s Executive Council for discussion and review of the attainment of lead and lag measures.
BSC's IE&R staff generates the federally related reports (including IPEDS, EADA, and Title III eligibility reports). BSC's IPEDS reports are verified by NDUS Office institutional research staff, and all reports are configured to be replicable by System staff.

BSC employs a team of institutional researchers to analyze the IPEDS data on retention, persistence, and completion. BSC’s IE&R staff also utilize the Student Achievement Measure (SAM) for monitoring student retention, persistence, and completion.

BSC also utilizes analytics via Hobson's Starfish Retention Solutions. Starfish's Student Explorer allows the College to examine characteristics predicting students' credit hour velocity, student retention, GPA, and credit ratio. This tool has been especially useful in revealing programs of the College where otherwise vulnerable students are succeeding. Such insights help inform BSC and encourage the replication of successful norms from one program to others. In addition, BSC’s institutional research team uses Microsoft’s Power BI to share information on retention, persistence, and completion with the institution’s leadership; such reports the IE&R team prepares to include dashboards of the reasons students have listed for their withdrawal from BSC, total withdraw metrics a program vitality report that illustrates the completion rates and credit production of each academic program at BSC, and a collection of dashboards that illustrate to BSC’s academic deans how each of the programs under their leadership is performing in terms of retention and completion.