Illinois Administrative Code › Title 23 - EDUCATION AND CULTURAL RESOURCES › Part 1033 - HIGHER EDUCATION DISTANCE LEARNING AND INTERSTATE RECIPROCITY › Section 1033.20 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 28, July 12, 2024
The definitions included in this Section apply to terms used in
				this Part in conjunction with the Higher Education Distance Learning Act and
				the National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA)
				Policy Manual issued and approved by the National Council for State
				Authorization Reciprocity Agreements on December 8, 2023 (with no later
				amendments or additions).
"Accredited" means holding institutional accreditation by name
				as a U.S.-based institution from an accreditor recognized by the U.S.
				Department of Education and whose scope of recognition, as specified by the
				U.S. Department of Education, includes distance education.
"Academic Term" means a portion of an academic year, the time
				during which an institution holds classes.
"Academic Year" means the period of time generally extending
				from August in one calendar year through July of the following calendar year,
				usually broken into academic terms such as semesters, trimesters, or
				quarters.
"Act" means the Higher Education Distance Learning Act
				[110 ILCS
				145 ].
"Approve", "Approval", or "Authorization to Participate", in
				the context of an institutional application to operate under SARA, means a
				written statement issued by the Board that an institution meets the standards
				required by SARA and is eligible to operate under SARA.
"Board" or "BHE" means the
Illinois
Board of Higher Education
(Section 10 of the
				Act).
"Complaint" means a formal assertion in writing that the terms
				and conditions of the state authorization reciprocity agreement between the
				Board and the National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements,
				or of laws, standards or regulations incorporated by that agreement, are being
				violated by a person, institution, state, agency or other organization or
				entity operating under the terms of that agreement, including student
				complaints.
"C-RAC Guidelines" refers to the Interregional Guidelines for
				the Evaluation of Distance Education Programs (Online Learning) for best
				practices in postsecondary distance education developed by leading
				practitioners of distance education and adopted by the Council of Regional
				Accrediting Commissions (C-RAC) (see Appendix B of the SARA Policy Manual
				23.1 (December 8, 2023, with not
				later amendments or additions).
"Distance Learning" or "Distance Education" means
				instruction offered by any means where the student and faculty member are in
				separate physical locations. It includes, but is not limited to, online,
				interactive video or correspondence courses or programs.
(Section 10
				of the Act)
"Executive Director" means the Executive Director of the
				Illinois Board of Higher Education.
"Home State" means a SARA-member state where an institution
				holds its legal domicile, authorization, and is accredited. To operate under
				SARA an institution must have a single Home State.
"Host State" or "Reciprocal State" means a SARA-member state in
				which an institution operates under the terms of the agreement, other than the
				home state.
"ICCB" means the Illinois Community College Board.
"Institution" means a degree-granting postsecondary
				entity.
"Member State" means any state, district or territory that has
				joined SARA.
"NC-SARA" or "National Council for SARA" means the National
				Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements.
"Participation Agreement" means the agreement that each
				participating institution is required to sign and abide by in order to take
				advantage of the reciprocity agreement
(Section 10 of the Act). For
				the purposes of the Act and this Part, the participation agreement constitutes
				the applications created by NC-SARA and the Board that contain the eligibility
				criteria and is to be completed and signed by the institution. The institution
				will submit the applications to the Board and, after the institution has been
				approved by the Board staff and NC-SARA, the application becomes the
				participation agreement, subject to annual renewal.
"Participating Institution" means any institution of
				higher learning that offers an associate's degree or higher, in whole or in
				part, through distance learning and has voluntarily or willingly entered into a
				participation agreement to be regulated by a participating home state with
				respect to institutional and program approval, complaints, and institutional
				and program reviews
(Section 10 of the Act).
"Physical Presence" means on-going occupation of a
				physical location for instructional purposes or maintenance of an
				administrative office to facilitate instruction
(Section 10 of the
				Act).
"Provisional Admission" or "Provisional Renewal" means
				conditional approval by the Board staff of an institution's participation in
				SARA that carries additional monitoring conditions of that institution by its
				home state.
"Provisional Status" means the SARA status of an institution
				provided provisional admission or provisional renewal by its home state.
"Public Institution of Higher Education" has the same meaning
				as that term is defined in the Board of Higher Education Act [110 ILCS
				205/1 ].
"Regional Compact" means the New England Board of Higher
				Education, Midwestern Higher Education Compact (to which Illinois belongs),
				Southern Regional Education Board, or Western Interstate Commission for Higher
				Education.
"SARA" means the state authorization reciprocity agreement or
				the voluntary program that implements reciprocity agreements amongst states,
				institutions and the National Council for SARA.
"SARA Policy Manual" refers to the document adopted by the
				National Council for SARA to administer the voluntary, regional approach to
				state oversight of distance education.
"State" means any state, commonwealth, district or
				territory of the United States that is a participant in good standing in a
				state authorization reciprocity agreement
(Section 10 of the
				Act).
"State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement", "SARA"
,
				"Reciprocity Agreement"
or "Interstate Reciprocity Agreement "
means a voluntary agreement that establishes reciprocity between
				willing states for approval of postsecondary educational services delivered by
				distance learning beyond state boundaries
(Section 10 of the Act). The
				development of these agreements among and between the state portal agencies
				and/or the regional compacts will be facilitated through
				NC-SARA.