On Nov. 22, the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM) commission voted to grant NEIU’s music department accreditation. The NASM is a national accrediting agency for music schools and programs with high criterions. Prior to granting accreditation to a school, NASM investigates that certain institution to ensure that the institution is providing quality education as well as to see if that school is honest.
For example, NASM ensures that the institution is in fact providing the education and programs that it says it is providing.
Dr. Shayne Cofer, NEIU’s Music Department chair, feels that NEIU’s music department could have been accredited years ago. “We have had quality programs for many years; we just hadn’t gone through the process of applying,” said Cofer.
NEIU decided in 2003 that it would begin the rigorous process of applying for accreditation, but did not officially apply until 2007, after years of making minor adjustments to the curriculum and the department.
“It was a lot of work, as you can see it took six years of a process of getting ready to apply and applying. It was well worth the effort that we went through in the department. Everyone spent a lot of hours working on it and obviously in the end it paid off,” said Cofer.