Accreditation: The Method of “Institutional Sanctification”

By Dr. Jason Koppen (President)

This newsletter is our “65th anniversary edition”! Within its pages you’ll find a number of connect-points to the history of Indian Bible College (alumni from the 20th century, anniversary celebrations, anniversary video link, etc.). It is fitting that in this edition we are highlighting the IBC initiative of accreditation, as this became a desired pursuit of IBC administration (particularly John Greenfield) in the 1980s. In the 1990-1991 school year an articulation agreement was formed with (and later canceled by) Moody Bible Institute, which was written partially in the hope that this agreement would help IBC achieve accreditation. In 1992 a relationship began with the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS), an affiliation that was replaced a decade later with our current partnership with the Association for Biblical Higher Education (ABHE). Over the decades MANY people contributed to elevating the standards of IBC’s academic excellence that prepared the school for accreditation. After 30 years of pursuit, Indian Bible College finally achieved applicant status with ABHE in 2014, followed by candidate status in 2017, and initial accreditation in 2021.

Accreditation comes with great benefits. It provides students with guaranteed recognition of class credits with the other 160 ABHE schools and also increases the likelihood of transferability to state and public schools. It has gained graduates additional access to graduate education; about half of recent bachelor’s graduates are considering or actively pursuing master’s degrees. Accreditation provides the constant mandate to, and assistance in, the pursuit of excellence, giving our students a high quality education. Accreditation gives IBC a voice in biblical higher education. Finally, accreditation has provided access to Pell Grant and tribal scholarship funds, which provide additional tuition revenue that allows us to compensate Native staff as they raise support.

Of course, there are significant challenges to keep accreditation, the greatest of which is maintaining IBC’s assessment process when there is significant turnover in the Academic Dean and Registrar positions. IBC is currently on its sixth Registrar in the last 15 years and President Koppen has covered the Academic Dean role four times, totaling eight of the last 16 years.

We praise God for a great Registrar (graduate Brina Lee) and are excited to announce
a new Academic Dean: current Dean of Men, Josh Manning, who will be taking the position this summer. Pray for blessing in longevity for both of these individuals. Please pray also for our next steps in accreditation, which include writing our third self-study this summer and fall, and hosting an accreditation site team in spring 2025. We praise God for all His provision over all these decades to see these great gains in accreditation!