Quality Initiative

The Open Pathway requires the institution to designate one major improvement effort it has taken during the last ten years as its Qualitiy Initiative Project. The Quality Initiative Project takes place between years 5 and 9 of the 10-year Open Pathway Cycle and may be designed to begin and be completed during this time or it may continue an initiative already in progress or achieve a key milestone in the work of a longer initiative. The Quality Initiative is intended to allow institutions to take risks, to aim high, and to learn from the project.

The Quality Initiative: Institutional Improvement in the Open Pathway

Cameron University was approved by the Higher Learning Commission to use the University’s participation in the four-year HLC Academy for Student Persistence and Completion as its Quality Initiative for the 2020-2021 10-year comprehensive evaluation. CU’s application to the Academy established a goal of increasing one-year persistence rates for first-time freshmen and first-time freshmen transfer students. CU focused on improving academic success in the first semester as a means of encouraging freshman student persistence as its Academy project.

Cameron University’s participation in the HLC Academy for Student Persistence and Completion was guided by a Steering Committee and sub-committees that included representation from key areas across the campus community.

A final Impact Report on Cameron University’s work with the Academy was presented to the Higher Learning Commission.