But AQIP differs from the Baldrige plan in several ways. Most significant is that AQIP focuses exclusively on higher education, unlike the Baldrige plan, and that Baldrige is an award program, not an accreditation process. Malcolm Baldrige, while serving as secretary of commerce under President Ronald Reagan, developed the model. AQIP requires quality-driven institutions to look at themselves as interrelated processes bound together by a common mission, not as a conglomeration of separate entities working toward individual goals. NCA will offer the new accreditation process as an alternative to traditional reviews.
Participation is voluntary.
However, says Smith, the new accreditation process poses questions that every organization should consider.