The Association for Biblical Higher Education

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Association for Biblical Higher Education or ABHE (formerly the The Accrediting Association of Bible Colleges or AABC) is a nationally recognized accrediting agency in the United States. It is recognized by the United States Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.

The Association is full member of ICETE, the International Council of Evangelical Theological Education operating under the auspices of the World Evangelical Alliance.

Incorporated in the State of Illinois as a not-for-profit corporation, the Association is exempt from income tax under the provisions of section 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954.

ABHE is operated by its member institutions through a board of directors, members of which are elected at an annual business meeting. Accrediting decisions are made by the Commission on Accreditation. The Association’s public accountability is underscored by the requirement that both the Board of Directors and the Commission on Accreditation must include public representatives among its members. The Association is administered by a full-time Executive Director and supported by a corps of professional staff.

According to ABHE's annual membership handbook, there were 33,200 undergraduates and 2,500 graduate students registered in over 135 colleges/universities across North America in the 2005/2006 academic year.

1 History
2 Compared
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] History

The ABHE started as Missionary Training Institute (Nyack College) in New York City in 1882 and helped start the Moody Bible Institute in 1886 and Toronto Bible School (Tyndale University College & Seminary) in 1894. In 1947 the ABHE started the Accrediting Association of Bible Institutes and Bible Colleges in 1947, but this was shortened in 1957 to the Accrediting Association of Bible Colleges. By 2004 the name organization changed to the Association for Biblical Higher Education "in order to reflect its expansion of scope with graduate education accreditation and programmatic accreditation."[1]

Currently, there are 140 bible schools with ties to the ABHE, which operates for the purpose of setting academic standards for seminaries and Bible colleges, and evaluates and monitors compliance among its candidate and member schools. ABHE should not be confused with regional accreditation.

[edit] Compared

Vocational and religious accreditation groups have standards that are different from regional accreditors. For example, Trinity College (Florida) holds the Association for Biblical Higher Education.[2] Trinity applied for regional accreditation from Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), but was rejected in December 2005. SACS reviewed the college and rejected the application for accreditation because "Trinity College of Florida failed to provide information demonstrating its compliance with Core Requirement 2.5 (Institutional Effectiveness), Core Requirement 2.7.1 (Program Length), Core Requirement 2.7.2 (Program Content), Core Requirement 2.8 (Faculty), Comprehensive Standard 3.7.1 (Faculty), and Core Requirement 2.9 (Learning Resources and Services) of the Principles of Accreditation.[3]