In July, Northeastern Illinois University's Department of Counselor Education received the Council on Rehabilitation Education (CORE) accreditation until 2017 for their Rehabilitation Counseling program. As a result, all students admitted to and successfully completing the training program will be eligible to become Certified Rehabilitation Counselors (CRC).

The goal of accreditation is to ensure that education provided by programs and institutions of higher education, such as NEIU, meets acceptable levels of quality. Accrediting agencies develop evaluation criteria and conduct evaluations to assess whether or not those criteria are met. Institutions and/or programs that request an agency's evaluation and that meet an agency's criteria are then "accredited" by that agency.

NEIU's Department of Counselor Education's Rehabilitation Counseling program is committed to improving the lives of people with disabilities by providing qualified (CRC-eligible) professional rehabilitation counselors trained in the current best practices of rehabilitation services. "These are important and necessary credentials for our students to hold in order to be competitive in the job market," said Nan Giblin, professor, counselor education. "CORE accreditation for our program is a sign of national recognition for the University and for the department. It means we have passed all the standards of CORE."

Accreditation allows prospective students to identify NEIU as an acceptable institution and provides a measure of assurance that the rehabilitation counseling program meets established guidelines. The accredited institution is monitored to verify that it continues to maintain the standards of the accrediting agency. Additionally, accreditation fosters continuous improvement by measuring programs against national standards and their own stated missions and goals.

The mission of CORE is the accreditation of rehabilitation counselor education (RCE) programs to promote the effective delivery of rehabilitation services to individuals with disabilities by promoting and fostering continuing review and improvement of master's degree-level RCE programs. It may also serve to assist and advise the development and refinement of university-based programs related to the education of persons for professional endeavors associated with the rehabilitation of people with disabilities.