The Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU) is an independent, non-profit membership organization recognized by the United States Department of Education since 1952 as an institutional accreditor for colleges and universities.

[1] Before 2020, when the Department of Education reorganized accreditation, NWCCU was the regional authority on educational quality and institutional effectiveness of higher education institutions in the seven-state Northwest region of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington.

It establishes accreditation criteria and evaluation procedures by which institutions are reviewed.

Its decision-making body consists of up to twenty-six Commissioners who represent the public and the diversity of higher education institutions within the Northwest region.

[8] In 1917, the organization was formed as the Northwest Association of Secondary and Higher Schools.