Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 26, Number 10, 1 October 2009 — Accreditation for Ka Haka ʻUla [ARTICLE]

Accreditation for Ka Haka ʻUla

Ka Haka 'Ula O Ke'elikōlani College of Hawaiian Language at the University of Hawai'i at Hilo has been awarded full accreditation by the World Indigenous Nations Higher Education Consortium. The announcement was made at WINHEC's annual general meeting in Toronto, Canada. WINHEC's accreditation team also jointly reviewed Ka Haka *Ula's Kahuawaiola Indigenous Teacher Education Program in conjunction with the Hawai'i Teacher Standards Board's State Accreditation Teacher Edueahon (SATE) team. The WINHEC accreditation recognizes Ka Haka *Ula as a preschool to graduate school program that includes a preschool to grade 12 laboratory school program, two bachelor of arts programs, a teacher

education certificate, two master of arts programs and a Ph.D. program. Ka Haka *Ula is the first eollege in the U.S. within a mainstream university to be awarded a WINHEC accreditation. Only two other institutions worldwide have been similarly accredited: New Zealand's Te Wānanga O Aotearoa and Norway's Sami University College. The accreditation period lasts 10 years with a midterm review. The Office of Hawaiian Affairs supported the college with a grant of $100,000 in 2008 for three projects to support culturally-based academics.