Quality Initiative

The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) open pathway requires that institutions undertake a major quality initiative designed to suit its present concerns or aspirations. The quality initiative takes place between years five (5) and nine (9) of the 10-year open pathway cycle.

The HLC expects that institutions always be engaged in quality improvement. 

Northern Illinois University’s HLC quality initiative was "Success in Gateway Courses for All Students."

The quality initiative had the following goals:

• Identify and redesign gateway courses with low success rates or high equity gaps.
• Assess and deploy support for course transformation or other improvements in the identified courses to enhance student success.
• Monitor data from and engage in continuous quality improvement of identified courses to enhance student success in courses and beyond (e.g., retention and graduation).

This initiative also aligned with the university’s goals, the NIU Strategic Action Planning Framework (PDF), the NIU Strategic Enrollment Management (SEM) Plan and SEM Accountability Plan (PDF), and NIU’s Illinois Equity in Attainment (ILEA) Equity Plan (PDF).  

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