ACCGC Mission
ACCGC exists to provide Graphic Communications degree programs professional accreditation standards through a process of self-study and peer-review, thereby:
- Assuring curricular and instructional relevancy within a system of quality improvement.
- Stimulating the exchange of ideas between academia and industry.
- Providing internal and external recognition to collegiate programs meeting accreditation standards.
Academic Graphic Communications Today
In 2000, the US National Center for Education Statistics added Graphic Communications and a program taxonomy (CIP 10.03). Unfortunately, CIP 10.03 has never been updated, and the definition no longer accurately describes the discipline. At that time, print communication dominated media and so was the focus of Graphic Communications CIP 10.03 curricula. Over the past quarter century, print media has evolved to become one of many forms of media blended within modern Graphic Communications curricula.
In 2023, the ACCGC organized an expert group to create a modern definition and taxonomy to better reflect Graphic Communications as it exists today. Graphic Communications is now defined as a branch of technology with focus on the creation, production, management, and commercial application of visual products in digital and physical form. Depending upon the program, study may include combinations of (in alphabetical order) business management, computer generated imagery, computer servers, content management, data, distribution logistics, graphic design, intellectual property law, networking, package design, photography, print production, visual product design, production management, project management, videography, and web development.
Evolution of Academic Graphic Communications
Graphic Communications as an academic discipline has changed greatly over the past 100 years. Its roots are in the early 20th century Printing Arts, a branch of Manual Arts where students learned the printing trade as a component of high school education curricula.
In the 1950s, the use of the term Manual Arts gave way to Industrial Arts, with Graphic Arts as an offshoot. In the 1970s, with industrial production de-emphasizing craft skills in place of increasingly more sophisticated and automated machinery, Industrial Technology was adopted as a broad term to encompass the broad educational branches of communications (including Graphic Arts), transportation, construction, and manufacturing. Industrial Technology education at the college level was often defined as the “preparation of management-oriented technical professionals.”
In the 1990s, the term Graphic Arts gave way to Graphic Communications for three key reasons. First, there was often confusion between the semantics of “Art(s)” Graphic Arts and Fine Art/Graphic Design. Fine Art included curricular components of studio art, art history, and visual aesthetics while Graphic Arts focused on teaching “artisanship” as related to commercial printing skills. Second, the term Graphic Communications fit more precisely under the Industrial Technology umbrella (given the communications branch). Thirdly, the term Graphic Communications better fit the evolution of curriculums of the 1990s, which were transitioning to embrace a wider range of media content beyond print, including the emerging technologies of computer-based media, digital workflows, and internet communication.
ACCGC Leadership
ACCGC has a dedicated Board of Directors comprised of business, industry and academic professionals who share a belief in the value of college-level graphic communications programs. Through the volunteer efforts of the Board and many other professionals, ACCGC accreditation helps ensure that Associate degree and Bachelor degree programs meet modern professional standards within a system of continuous improvement.
Origins of ACCGC
original ACCGC logo
In the late 1980s at the Graph Expo exposition and convention in Chicago seeds were planted to establish accreditation standards for degree programs in the graphic communications discipline. This was in recognition of the graphic communications industry’s growing need for college and university programs to provide a high quality education, producing graduates who could lead the graphic communications industry in the years ahead. In 1998, after years of planning, the Accrediting Council for Collegiate Graphic Communications (ACCGC) was formed and has been accrediting graphic communications programs for more than 20 years. ACCGC is a member of the CHEA quality group and incorporated as an IRS-recognized non-profit 501(c)(3) publicly supported organization.