ACICS Grants Brooks Institute a New Four-Year Accreditation

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- (August 16, 2006) – Brooks Institute announced today that the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS) has officially awarded the Santa Barbara-based school a new four-year grant of accreditation to offer programs through the Master’s degree level, to extend through December 31, 2010. In addition, four-year accreditation has been granted to the Brooks Institute Ventura campus to offer programs through the Bachelor’s degree level. ACICS (http://www.acics.org/) is a nonprofit education corporation, recognized by the United States Secretary of Education as an independent and autonomous national accrediting body.

"We are extremely pleased that the ACICS has, again, assessed our programs and operations and found them worthy of this accreditation," said Dr. Greg Strick, President of Brooks Institute. "The high standards set by ACICS are a true benchmark for private institutions offering post-secondary education. At Brooks, we continually work to meet and exceed these standards. It is our commitment to ACICS, to our students, staff and alumni; and to the employers who hire our graduates." In addition to independently assessing the overall quality of a college or university, accreditation also allows the school the opportunity to participate in a variety of financial aid programs.

The accreditation process undertaken by ACICS is comprehensive, involving a three-day site visit to the campus(es) by an evaluation team. The team visited the Brooks campuses in late February and early March, 2006. According to ACICS, the team’s mission is to appraise overall educational quality and outcomes, evaluate the professional status of an institution among similar institutions and review the school’s educational operations. In addition, operational ethics are self-evaluated and judged by peers.

"We have a proven 60-year track record of successful education, and we work diligently to ensure our programs remain of the highest caliber, Strick emphasized. "That said, we welcome the accrediting process to help ensure that that our ethical, business and educational practices are at their utmost effectiveness. This is important to us, and to the constituents we serve."

Brooks Institute recently celebrated its 60th year of educating students in the visual media. With its campuses in Santa Barbara and Ventura, California, (which includes two sound stages for filmmaking), the school has more than 2200 students pursuing Masters, Bachelors, Associates and diploma programs in fields including professional photography, visual journalism, film and video production and Graphic Design. Brooks’ graduates are visible nationally and internationally, working for distinguished organizations including National Geographic, Smithsonian, Los Angeles Times and other national media outlets, including Hallmark Publishing, Cousteau Society, HBO, Kodak and other industry leaders in visual media fields.

For more information about Brooks Institute, visit www.brooks.edu.