Richmond’s Middle States Accreditation

08/07/2011

Message from the Chairman of the Board of Trustees

The following letter is the response of the Chairman of the Board of Trustees to the decision by Middle States to place Richmond on probation. It outlines the action that is currently being taken by Richmond to ensure the quick resolution of this matter.

The Richmond community will be updated on the progress of the University in August 2011. Richmond remains an accredited institution, whose degrees are awarded by Middle States and recognized through the OUVS.

Should you require further information about our probationary status please visit the website or contact the Admissions Office on +44 (0)208 332 9000.

Letter from the Chairman of the Board of Trustees:

Dear students and friends of Richmond, the American International University in London,

Recently, the Middle States Association, the body which accredits Richmond University’s US degrees determined that the University should be placed on probationary status as a result of a review carried out in March of this year. It is important to emphasize that Richmond University remains fully accredited and we regard this action by Middle States to be a temporary measure giving us time to resolve some specific issues which have built up over the last few years. These have mainly to do with the university’s governance structure as well as recent changes in US legislation with respect to education financing. We have been working intensively on solutions in both these areas over the past months and will be ready to meet the team from Middle States when they next visit Richmond in early August to review our progress. With a new leadership team in place and focused effort to rectify the shortcomings identified we are confident the outstanding issues will be resolved to the satisfaction of Middle States and that the probationary period will be lifted. We shall update the website in this regard over the coming months.

Our newly appointed President, Professor John Annette, formerly of Birkbeck College, University of London and our new Provost, Professor Phil Deans, formerly of Temple University, look forward to welcoming new and returning students to the Richmond campus at the end of August when they will meet you personally to update you on developments. I too plan to be present to meet as many students as possible at that time. President Annette has asked that the following statement be released on his behalf, “I am confident that building on the well recognized academic excellence of Richmond that we will build new management and governance systems to enable the university to achieve even greater success. I look forward to working with staff, students, alumni and trustees to revitalize the Richmond community.”

Yours sincerely,
A. Michael Hoffman
Chairman of the Board of Trustees

Link to this page: http://www.richmond.ac.uk/n/1169.aspx