The University of Wisconsin-Platteville’s campus in October usually means Homecoming Week and Halloween. However, this October brings a more rigorous event on campus: the Higher Learning Commission comprehensive review.

The HLC comprehensive review will take place on Oct. 24-25. According to the HLC website, the Higher Learning Committee is “an independent corporation that was founded in 1895 as one of the six regional accreditors in the United States.”

The HLC will be sending a group of about five reviewers to visit campus to meet with a variety of campus leaders, employees and students. The commission visits the campus every 10 years, and once the visit is complete, the review team will decide whether or not the university deserves to be accredited or not.

The process of accreditation is completely voluntary and evaluates different programs, colleges and universities to make sure that they are providing a high-quality education to students, yet is still striving for improvement. In past years, not only has UW-Platteville been accredited as a university, but many individual programs within the university have been accredited as well. These include, but are not limited to, the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM) and the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET).

While the HLC members are on campus, they will not only visit with and interview faculty, but also administration, employees and students in order to assess whether everyone understands the university’s goals. The UW-Platteville administration, faculty and staff encourage students to be honest about their experiences on campus and in programs.

With that, the HLC Accreditation Committee will be hosting forums to solicit feedback. These forums are free and open to the public and will be held on Oct. 6 from 11a.m.-noon and Oct. 12 from 3-4 p.m. both in the Platteville East room of the Markee Pioneer Student Center.