Florida Polytechnic moves toward accreditation

BY THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

Florida Polytechnic University, the state's newest university, is expected to receive accreditation by the end of the year, Randy Avent, the school's president, said this week. Avent told the state university system's Board of Governors, which was meeting on Florida Polytechnic's Lakeland campus, that an accreditation team from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools is scheduled to visit the school next month. If the review and subsequent report go well, it could lead to a formal accreditation by December, if not June, Avent said. The school, which was created in 2012, passed another major milestone on Jan. 3 when 18 students became Florida Polytechnic's first graduating class. The school, which is focused on science and engineering education, has 1,235 students enrolled for the spring semester. In other developments at a meeting Thursday, the Board of Governors approved a $125 million construction and maintenance project list for universities across the state. The list will be recommended to the Legislature for inclusion in the 2017-18 state budget. The board also submitted an optional list of another $283.5 million in projects.