The review coordinator may visit the campus or representatives of the institution may visit the Department during the self-study preparation. The composition of the visiting team is established by the review coordinator well before the visit. The team consists of outside consultants as well as one or more professional accreditation staff from the Department. Team size varies, depending on the scope of the institution, but is usually in the range of four to six persons. Team members include faculty and administrators from comparable institutions in New York and other states.
Care is taken to identify persons who are expert in their fields and objective in their judgments.
Teams include one or more persons with accreditation experience. The names and affiliations of proposed team members are provided to the institution, which may, in turn, request substitutions when there is an actual or potential conflict of interest. Conflict of interest guidelines are provided in advance to the institution. Each team member is provided with the completed self-study by the institution prior to the visit. At the same time, the Department's review coordinator provides the team members with guidelines for conducting review activities, guidelines on conflict of interest, the format for the reporting of findings and recommendations, a tentative schedule of review activities during the visit, and supplementary guidelines for use in assessment activities and determinations.