SOUTHFIELD—Lawrence Technological University has received the maximum 10-year re-accreditation for its academic programs from the Higher Learning Commission, the nation’s foremost accreditation body for colleges and universities.
The final report from a seven-member outside peer review team specifically mentioned the university’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, a “rigorous” ongoing strategic planning progress, an Academic Achievement Center that helps students adjust to college-level work, and the Marburger STEM Center, LTU’s clearinghouse for K-12 education outreach in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), as LTU strengths.
LTU was also one of the first universities in the nation to be judged on new HLC criteria that went into effect Sept. 1, 2020.
“This affirmation from the Higher Learning Commission validates the hard work of our faculty and staff developing programs that assure tremendous professional success by our graduates who achieve salaries in the upper 11 percent of all colleges and universities,” LTU President Virinder Moudgil said.
To produce the report, the HLC team surveyed students, interviewed nearly 30 LTU administrators, more than a dozen faculty members, more than a dozen other staff, seven members of the LTU Board of Trustees, and a 10-member assessment committee, an eight member assurance team, and a four-member retention and completion task force.
The commission found that LTU’s “mission demonstrates commitment to the public good” and promotes civic engagement, and that the university “engages with its external constituencies and responds to their needs as its mission and capacity allow.” Also mentioned was the Centrepolis Accelerator, a manufacturing business incubator LTU established on campus in 2019 with the city of Southfield.
The report also found that LTU fostered diversity and inclusion through The King-Chavez-Parks initiative to develop “programs that will increase the number of at-risk students obtaining their bachelor’s degree,” as well as a 2020 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force report that describes campus initiatives to ensure the institution continues to progress in fostering a climate of respect among all students, faculty, staff, and administrators.
The HLC report also noted that LTU’s conduct was “ethical and responsible” and that its academic programs were appropriately rigorous for the degrees and certificates awarded to graduates. And the report noted LTU’s student-faculty ratio of only 11 to 1.
