A team of regional educational evaluators has given Cornell high praise in a report that represents one of the last stages of the university's quest for another 10 years of accreditation.

"All the evidence we've reviewed indicates that Cornell's programs in research and teaching are of the highest caliber and that the university's fiscal and physical resources are nurtured and used responsibly," said Rebecca Bushnell, dean of the University of Pennsylvania's arts and sciences school, who chaired the visiting reaccreditation team. "We also applaud the resilience of the Cornell community during the recent period of economic restraint."

The team's thumbs-up is the next to last step in reaccreditation by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, said Marin Clarkberg, Cornell's accreditation liaison officer and director of Institutional Research and Planning. The accreditation team will submit a written report to Middle States, which is likely to reaccredit Cornell in July, she said.

The team of eight peer evaluators, representing universities including Georgetown, Johns Hopkins and Princeton, based their assessment on Cornell's extensive self-study prepared for the reaccreditation process. The report and Middle States' 14 accreditation standards provided the context for the review. The team also consulted the university's Reimagining Cornell initiatives and its strategic plan and as well as visited the Ithaca campus. Individual team members journeyed to Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City; the executive MBA classes in New York City and Washington, D.C.; and the joint master's program in hospitality management at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

The team found that Cornell complies with all of Middle States' standards, including institutional stewardship; student admissions and support; faculty excellence; integrity, governance and administration; educational offerings; and assessment of student learning.

The team did make two recommendations, on which Cornell must take action and report progress, both to ensure that the university is making good on its plans for assessment of student learning and for institutional assessment.

"Taken as a whole, Cornell University is a distinguished and a thriving university," Bushnell concluded. "Its distinctive mission embraces both the elements of a major research institution and the role of a land-grant college to provide education and training that are important to the state and to society as a whole. It's not a complacent institution but one that constantly strives to do better."

Alan Mathios, the Rebecca Q. and James C. Morgan Dean of the College of Human Ecology and professor of policy analysis and management, who co-chairs Cornell's reaccreditation committee, said: "I'm very pleased at the evaluation team's recognition of the excellence of Cornell, its praise of the living/learning environment we have developed, and our approach to advancing student mental health and well-being. The team also recognized the significant efforts and progress we have made on the assessment of student learning. The recommendations they provided are very closely aligned to what is articulated in Cornell's strategic plan and thus consistent with where we want to go."

Mathios' co-chair on the reaccreditation committee is Kent Hubbell, the Robert W. and Elizabeth C. Staley Dean of Students and professor of architecture.

This article was updated to clarify the role of the regional education evaluators.