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Philosophy of AACSB Accreditation

The business environment is undergoing profound changes, spurred by powerful demographic shifts, global economic and societal forces, and emerging technologies. At the same time, society is increasingly demanding that companies become more accountable for their actions, exhibit a greater sense of social responsibility, and embrace more sustainable practices. These trends send a strong signal that what business needs today is much different from what it needed yesterday or will need tomorrow.

Not surprisingly, the same factors impacting business are also changing higher education. In today’s increasingly dynamic environment, business schools must respond to the business world’s changing needs by providing relevant knowledge and skills to the communities they serve. They must innovate and invest in intellectual capital; they must develop new programs, curricula, and courses; and they must continually update programs to ensure currency and relevancy of the curriculum. Moreover, declining public support for higher education has placed business schools under additional economic pressure, which has widespread implications on all components of the business school, from the range of academic offerings and co-curricular programs, to the number and type of faculty and professional staff available to support business school operations, to class size, and beyond.

In this context of constant change, standards and processes for accreditation must be designed not only to validate quality business education and impactful research but also to provide leadership, encouragement, and support for change in business schools. The standards should also provide a platform for business schools to work together to foster engagement, accelerate innovation, and amplify impact in business education—and create a shared sense of responsibility to impact society positively.

The fundamental purpose of AACSB accreditation is to encourage business schools to hold themselves accountable for improving business practice through a commitment to strategic management, learner success, and impactful thought leadership. AACSB achieves this purpose by defining a set of criteria and standards, coordinating peer review and consultation, and recognizing high-quality business schools that meet the standards and actively engage in the process.

AACSB remains deeply committed to diversity and inclusion in collegiate business education. These values of diversity and inclusion foster the exploration of differences in a safe and supportive environment, where community members move beyond tolerance of differences to seeking and celebrating the rich dimensions of diversity and the contributions these differences make to innovative, engaged, and impactful business experiences. When business schools unlock access, reduce barriers, and intentionally create strategies to engage disadvantaged or underrepresented populations, they create an environment of success and enhance excellence.

AACSB recognizes that schools can be constrained by a variety of external factors, such as regulatory systems, collective bargaining agreements, formal labor regulations, and other environmental factors. It is within the spirit of the standards that these external factors are taken into consideration by the peer review team.

One of the guiding principles of AACSB accreditation is the encouragement of diverse paths to achieving high-quality outcomes in business education. Accreditation decisions are made through a process that relies on the professional judgment of peers who conduct reviews that are guided by the business school mission. It is also critically important that AACSB accreditation demands evidence of continuous quality improvement in three vital areas: engagement, innovation, and impact.

Engagement, Innovation, and Impact

AACSB acknowledges and values the diversity among its membership, but it also recognizes that all of its accredited members share a common purpose—preparing learners for meaningful professional, societal, and personal lives. Effective business education and research can be achieved with different balances of academic and professional engagement; however, quality business education cannot be achieved when either academic or professional engagement is absent, or when they do not intersect in meaningful ways. Accreditation should encourage an appropriate intersection of academic and professional engagement that is consistent with quality in the context of a school's mission.

Accreditation standards focus on the quality of education and supporting functions. The standards must set demanding but realistic thresholds, challenge business schools to innovate, and inspire educators to pursue continuous improvement in educational programs and other mission-based activities of the business school. Accreditation standards and associated processes should foster quality and consistency, but not at the expense of the creativity and experimentation necessary for innovation or entrepreneurial pursuits; the standards must recognize that innovation involves both the potential for success and the risk of failure. Therefore, when assessing any success or failure, it is key for schools to recognize the importance of experimentation and place a priority on strategic innovation. If innovations are well developed, rational, and thoughtfully planned, negative outcomes should not inhibit a positive accreditation review. Negative outcomes are of concern only when they seriously and negatively affect the ability of the business school to continue to fulfill its mission.

In an environment of increasing accountability, it is important that AACSB accreditation focus on appropriate high-quality inputs (human, physical, virtual, and financial), processes, and outputs that shape outcomes within the context of the business school’s mission and supporting strategies. That is, in the accreditation process, business schools must document how they are making a difference and having impact. This means that AACSB will continue to emphasize that business schools integrate assurance of learning into their curriculum management processes and produce thought leadership that makes a positive impact on business theory, teaching, or practice. Impact also has a broader meaning in that the business school, through the articulation and execution of its mission, should make a difference in business and society as well as in the global community of business schools.

The Role of Peer Review Judgment

One of the values of AACSB accreditation arises from the experience, professionalism, professional judgment, and discretion of the peer review team members. Peer review teams are tasked with two goals for a peer review visit: (1) confirm alignment with the standards, and (2) provide advice with respect to the continuous improvement charge of an AACSB-accredited school. Peer review teams must exercise judgment when schools do not align with one or more standards. Peer review evaluations are based on the quality of the learning experience and outcomes, not rigid interpretations of standards. In places where a school does not align with the spirit of a standard, the school should justify the variance and provide evidence of high-quality learning experiences and outcomes despite misalignment with the standard.

Because AACSB is a global organization with accredited institutions throughout the world, AACSB recognizes that the accreditation standards must be viewed through an appropriate varying cultural lens. Accordingly, the association understands that schools may apply adaptive strategies to account for cultural or regional differences in the world. Such adaptive strategies should be discussed with the peer review team to arrive at a mutual understanding. Here, too, review teams must exercise good judgment and provide appropriate advice that adds value to the school’s strategies, processes, and outcomes.

The Accredited Entity

AACSB accreditation is granted to the agreed-upon entity—either the institution or a single business unit within a larger parent university (or other academic institution), with institutional accreditation being the default accredited entity. In all cases, the AACSB brand will only be applied to the agreed upon entity.

Institutional Accreditation

Under institutional accreditation, all business degrees within the institution, regardless of whether they are housed within the business school or elsewhere in the university, are to be included in the scope of the AACSB accreditation review, unless otherwise excluded (see “Programmatic Scope” below).

Single Business Unit Accreditation

An alternative to institutional accreditation is the accreditation of a single business academic unit (referred to as “unit of accreditation”). Typically, such units are part of a larger parent university (or other academic institution) from which they derive degree-granting authority. Redefining the accreditation entity from institution to a single unit is subject to the receipt of documentation that verifies that the unit has a sufficient level of independence in two areas: branding, and external market perception, as it relates to the single unit and the parent institution. The decision as to whether the school has made a successful case for a single unit of accreditation lies with AACSB.

  • Branding. The unit seeking to be recognized independently of the larger parent organization must demonstrate and document that it is branded separately to the level that external stakeholders clearly distinguish between degrees offered within the unit and those within other academic units in the university. To demonstrate such independence of brand, the unit should demonstrate that its outreach activities and products clearly distinguish it from the other academic units offering business degrees. Evidence may include (1) public relations related to market positioning; (2) promotional materials such as websites, electronic and print advertising, and recruiting materials and activities that clearly distinguish it from the parent organization; (3) business school name, faculty, and degree titles that clearly distinguish the unit from the other academic units offering business degrees; and (4) other brand differentiation between the unit seeking independent accreditation and other academic units offering business degrees within the parent organization.

  • External Market Perception. The unit to be accredited must demonstrate that there is no brand or market confusion between degrees offered by the unit and those offered by other units offering business degrees under the parent organization. This criterion is focused on the extent to which the external markets (learners, employers, other stakeholder groups, and the public) perceive that the business academic unit is differentiated from other academic units within the parent organization. This differentiation may include elements such as student markets served, admissions requirements that are different between the unit and parent organization, the level of degrees offered, placement histories, starting salaries, and employer and community perceptions.

A request for unit of accreditation is made prior to the submission of the school’s eligibility application. The request is reviewed by peers of the appropriate accreditation committee, and a decision is made by that committee and communicated to the school. If the unit of accreditation is not approved, the school may still pursue institutional accreditation if the eligibility application is approved.

Programmatic Scope

Once the accredited entity is determined, the next step is to gain agreement on which programs within the accredited entity will be included in the scope of accreditation. This is referred to as “programmatic scope.” Programmatic scope will normally include all business degree programs at the bachelor’s level or higher within the accredited entity. Schools may request exclusion of certain degree programs, subject to approval by the appropriate AACSB committee.

  • Included Programs. Included programs are degree programs in which 25 percent or more of the content for baccalaureate degree programs, or 50 percent or more of the content for post-baccalaureate degree programs, relates to business disciplines such as accounting, economics, finance, legal studies, management, management information systems, marketing, and quantitative methods.

  • Excluded Programs. Excluded programs are programs with business discipline content below the thresholds noted above, or for which a specific exclusion request has been granted by AACSB.

For all AACSB-accredited entities, it is the school’s responsibility to annually review and update the list of degree programs included in the scope of accreditation review as part of AACSB’s Business School Questionnaire so that the list of approved program exclusions can be maintained on a continual basis by AACSB. Once a degree program has been granted a formal exclusion by AACSB, the program remains excluded for future peer review visits unless the program undergoes substantial curricular changes that could bring the program into scope. New business degree programs introduced by the approved entity may be indicated as AACSB accredited until the next continuous improvement review, at which time the peer review team will review the new program for alignment with the standards. New business degree programs introduced by other academic units that were not originally within scope may not be indicated as accredited prior to the next review. Degree programs in teach-out stage at the time of accreditation visit are normally included in the scope of review, though the peer review team recognizes that the program is in teach-out mode. The review is concerned with whether the program still has sufficient and qualified faculty and other elements in place to ensure the remaining program is delivered in a high-quality manner.

Collaborative Provisions/Transfer Credit

Schools may engage in collaborative provisions with other institutions. A collaborative provision refers to a partnership agreement between two or more institutions. Apart from collaborative provision programs described below, Standard 6 specifies that normally the majority of learning in business disciplines that count toward degree fulfillment (as determined by credits, contact hours, or other metrics) is earned through the institution awarding the degree. In this context, business disciplines do not include general education or liberal arts courses, but do include courses in the major, business electives, and required business courses. Practically speaking, this means that absent a collaborative provision, transfer credit related to business disciplines is normally limited to no more than half of the program requirements.

An exception to the transfer limits may exist when collaborative provisions exist. There is a wide array of collaborative provisions, each with varying implications on a school’s AACSB accreditation. Below are the most common types of collaborative provisions, whether they are normally included or excluded from the AACSB accreditation scope, and, if included, the implications on a school’s accreditation. This list may evolve over time. The table below is presented from the perspective of the AACSB-accredited school awarding the degree, denoted as “School A.” “School B” denotes a partner school that may or may not be AACSB accredited. The reader of these standards could be either School A or School B, depending on context.

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