Reaccreditation, that is.

Harvard is currently undergoing the 10-year reaccreditation processes to ensure that we're getting a quality education. The New England Association of Schools and Colleges evaluation team, led by Georgetown University President Jack DeGioia, arrived on campus yesterday and will be poking around campus until Wednesday. While FlyBy isn't too worried about Harvard having trouble getting reaccredited, this process does provide members of the Harvard Community the chance to peruse the 141 page gem, "Harvard University Self-Study for NEASC Accreditation."

Check out some of the super exciting contents after the jump.

The report touches on nearly everything Harvard, from student life to sustainability, including:

  • Facts like the number of Harvard Undergrads (as of Fall 2008): 7023 (including the 266 part time students)

  • A long list of deans and administrators and a chart showing who is more powerful than who

  • Details about curricular changes, such as the new Gen Ed program ("...eight new fields break free of the disciplinary world-view of the Core." We're free! Yippee!)

  • Excel charts and graphs such as "Endowment Distribution for Operations vs. Endowment Returns, FY98-FY08." They even made the bars crimson.

  • A timeline of "Central Elements in the Institution's History" including:

1636 - Great and Central Court of Massachusetts votes on October 28 to appropriate £400 for "a schoale or college."

1639 - General Court orders "that the college...shalbee called Harvard College."

1803 - Admissions standards raised. Candidates are expected to pass examinations in Greek and Latin and to be proficient in arithmetic and geography. (We're glad they did away with this.)

1850 - Value of endowment exceeds $1 million. (Those were the days.)

As part of the process, the evaluation team will be holding a meeting for students tonight from 5-6 p.m. in Ticknor Lounge in Boylston Hall to hear about their experiences at Harvard. Plus there will be light refreshments. Maybe even the cookies that have disappeared from the Faculty and SEAS meetings.

(Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons)