Accreditation

NAIITS: An Indigenous Learning Community (NAIITS) with forerunners stemming from the early 1990s, was legally established in Canada and then USA in 2000. NAIITS has grown to become the only Indigenous designed, developed, delivered, and governed graduate and post graduate school of theological studies accredited by ATS as of spring 2021. As such, we offer a unique and wide-ranging Indigenous educational experience in theology, biblical studies, community development and intercultural studies. In addition, NAIITS offers an accredited experimental PhD program. NAIITS is accredited by:

The Commission on Accrediting of The Association of Theological Schools
(located at 10 Summit Park Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15275, USA, www.ats.edu).

As an accredited member of Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada (ATS), and in compliance with accreditation standards, NAIITS: An Indigenous Learning Community engages in ongoing, systematic evaluation of the educational effectiveness of each of its degree programs: Master of Divinity (MDiv), Master of Theological Studies (MTS), Master of Arts Intercultural Studies, Master of Arts Indigenous Community Development Studies, and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD).* Various assessment measures, both qualitative and quantitative, including narrative assessment, creative cultural assessment, and others are utilized to evaluate the extent to which learning outcomes for each degree are achieved. Findings contribute to the revisions necessary for continuous enhancement of our community and its academic programs.

Beginning with the graduating class of 2022 NAIITS will be administering the ATS Graduating Student Questionnaire (GSQ) to the graduating students from all degree programs to determine levels of satisfaction with their educational experience at NAIITS.

Student enrollment has been steady in each of the past 10 years as NAIITS sought to develop new programs and delivery formats in response to the changing social, educational, and spiritual context of Indigenous communities.

Degree Completion/Graduation Timeframes

Although many NAIITS students study full-time, the majority of NAIITS students study part-time while concurrently engaged in community work including ministry and other vocations. This means that almost all of NAIITS’ students take longer than the timeframes historically considered normative for graduate education. The following table indicates the average degree completion/graduation rate. Findings are consistent with the part-time nature of the student body.

Average Degree Completion Timeframes over past 5 years (given predominantly part-time studies)

As a privately-funded, publicly accountable postsecondary institution our degree-granting authority stems from our ATS accreditation and our partnerships with two Canadian-based, one USA based, and one Australian based tertiary theological educational institutions. NAIITS engages in ongoing, systematic review of learning outcomes and educational effectiveness for the purpose of continuous quality improvement.