American InterContinental University

American InterContinental University (AIU) was founded in 1970 in Lucerne, Switzerlandby American couple Jack and Helen Barnette of Atlanta, and was first known as the American Fashion College of Switzerland. The school was recognized as an American degree awarding institution in 1971, initially offering associate and bachelor's degrees starting in 1974.In 1976 the Switzerland-based school opened a campus in Atlanta and, in 1978, the Lucerne campus moved to London and changed its name to the American College for the Applied Arts.

By 1978, the school had approximately 300 students, and began to expand its course offering beyond fashion to areas such as business. The school opened several other campuses in subsequent years. Steve Bostic bought the school in 1996 and changed its name to American InterContinental University.In 2001, AIU was acquired by its current owner, Career Education Corporation, which is a publicly traded operator of for-profit schools.

The institution first received accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) in 1987. SACS placed the university on probation in December 2005 and renewed AIU's probation in 2006 for failure to comply with various Principles of Accreditation. On December 11, 2007, CEC announced that SACS had removed AIU's probation and that the university's accreditation was once again in good standing.

In 2009, AIU successfully sought to switch accreditation from SACS to the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA). School officials felt this was best since the majority of its students are served through its Internet-based campus which is based in the HLC geographic region. SACS and HLC are among the six regional accrediting organizations recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

The U.S. Department of Education, Office of Inspector General questioned the Higher Learning Commission's decision to approve accreditation of AIU based on the examination of the commission's standards for measuring credit hours and program length. An assistant inspector general stated in the report, "This action by HLC is not in the best interest of students, and calls into question whether the accrediting decisions made by HLC should be relied upon by the Department of Education when assisting students to obtain quality education through the Title IV programs." NCA-HLC president Sylvia Manning responded that this accusation was "flimsy" because it focused on a single accreditation issue involving a single school. SACS president Belle Wheelan sided with NCA-HLC, calling the OIG report "scary" and emphasizing that American InterContinental University's accreditation under SACS had been in "good standing."

In addition to HLC, the University's business programs earned accreditation from the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs in 2011.

In 2013, AIU's Master of Education (M.Ed.) program became one of the first fully online programs to be granted initial two-year accreditation by the Teacher Education Accreditation Council (TEAC).

The AIU London was accredited by the British Accreditation Council for Independent Further and Higher Education until it was absorbed by Regent's College London in April 2013. In June 2008, The Quality Assurance Agency closed an audit[27]published in May 2005 based on an examination of the London Campus in 2004. This report had noted that at the date of the Agency's review in 2004, there were "fundamental concerns regarding the academic standards being achieved."Following successful efforts on the London campus to remedy deficiencies, the QAA noted that, "Since the audit QAA has been provided with information that indicates that appropriate action has been taken by the American InterContinental University in response to the findings of this report. As a result the audit was signed off in June 2008."

AIU offers Associate, Bachelor’s and master's degrees in a variety of fields. Many instructors are professionals in their field and draw from their real-world experience to enrich classroom instruction and career training. AIU offers classroom instruction in person at the ground campuses and online via the Virtual Campus, or a hybrid of both. The AIU Virtual Campus gives online students access to course materials as well as nearly all the amenities of a traditional campus, such as a library, career services, student clubs and financial aid information. The Virtual Campus was named “Best of the Best” by the Computerworld Honors Program in 2009.

In 2009, My Unique Student Experience (M.U.S.E.) was introduced to a number of courses to supplement learning outside the classroom. M.U.S.E. is a web-based tool that provides access to additional, interactive learning options that help students comprehend course material in a way that appeals to them.The Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities (APSCU), formerly the Career College Association, recognized AIU's parent company, Career Education Corporation ("CEC"), for M.U.S.E. with its 2010 CCA Innovation Award.

In 2013, AIU launched a proprietary adaptive learning technology called intellipath™ to deliver data-driven personalized learning. The platform assesses students’ current understanding of a topic and then tailors the type and order of the lessons presented to meet their individual needs.

In April 2014, AIU introduced intellipath into its MBA in Management, making AIU’s program the first MBA in the U.S. driven by adaptive learning technology.