AACSB: just a random curiosity B-school question

[Wahoo Redux]

Our biz school is zealous about something called "AACSB Accreditation."  All the B-students have to have this on their resumes and it is on every single piece of paper the B-school distributes (never checked the B-room stalls, however.  If it is not on the rolls it is probably scrawled on the stall walls in some sort of dirty limerick).  I suspect the faculty all have "AACSB Accredited" on their driver's licences and tattooed on their bodies somewhere.

I've looked on line and it appears to simply be a voluntary accrediting agency.

Is this a thing?  What is it?  Should we care?

[ciao_yall]

Our biz school is zealous about something called "AACSB Accreditation."  All the B-students have to have this on their resumes and it is on every single piece of paper the B-school distributes (never checked the B-room stalls, however.  If it is not on the rolls it is probably scrawled on the stall walls in some sort of dirty limerick).  I suspect the faculty all have "AACSB Accredited" on their driver's licences and tattooed on their bodies somewhere.

I've looked on line and it appears to simply be a voluntary accrediting agency.

Is this a thing?  What is it?  Should we care?

Yeah, it's a thing. Because any organization can have something called an "MBA" it's good to make sure it has some semblance of rigor.

To whit: https://www.cca.edu/design/design-strategy/

[Wahoo Redux]

When I Google AACSB accredited schools I see a massive list.  It looks like almost every B-School under creation has this accreditation. 

[Golazo]

I think the AACSB is largely a rent-seeking exercise. At the low end, I don't seen significant differences between AACSB members and members of other, less "prestigious" accrediting orgs.

[mamselle]

Search the old forum.

It's a serious thing.

Octoprof had many, many, many posts about it.

M.

[spork]

I think the AACSB is largely a rent-seeking exercise. At the low end, I don't seen significant differences between AACSB members and members of other, less "prestigious" accrediting orgs.

This.

[Wahoo Redux]

Unlike most other graduate degrees (which idealistically exist to create scholars and scholarship or imbue a depth of necessary practical knowledge [ex. physician's assistant]), the MBA exists largely to get a competitive edge over people with a bachelor's degree.

Is there evidence that AACSB accreditation is at all relevant to employers?

[ciao_yall]

Unlike most other graduate degrees (which idealistically exist to create scholars and scholarship or imbue a depth of necessary practical knowledge [ex. physician's assistant]), the MBA exists largely to get a competitive edge over people with a bachelor's degree.

Is there evidence that AACSB accreditation is at all relevant to employers?

And, teaching people how to run and manage an organization. I have an MBA and work with people in high positions who are, yes, bright, but their Master's degrees in Communications and Sociology and Engineering and Biology did not prepare them to hire people, manage a budget, market a program, negotiate a deal or any of the other basic functions sorely lacking in our organization.

But the can write good papers and dissect frogs like nobody's business.

Well, if I haven't heard of the MBA program I look up their AACSB Accreditation. Often I can figure out pretty quickly why they don't have it.

[Wahoo Redux]

Well, if I haven't heard of the MBA program I look up their AACSB Accreditation. Often I can figure out pretty quickly why they don't have it.

Would you pass on an employee just because they lack an AACSB (or another accrediting agency) degree?

[polly_mer]

Well, if I haven't heard of the MBA program I look up their AACSB Accreditation. Often I can figure out pretty quickly why they don't have it.

Would you pass on an employee just because they lack an AACSB (or another accrediting agency) degree?

Sometimes.  Low-residency MBA degrees are notorious for being a cash cow at places that invest nothing into it.  If we really need someone with the business skills that ciao_yall mentioned, then we will pass on an MBA from an unaccredited place.

If we're hiring people based on their demonstrated experience, then an MBA is nice and it doesn't matter whence it came.

[pepsi_alum]

My knowledge of AACSB is limited, but I can assure you that field-specific accreditation does have very real ramifications. Just as an example, the education school at one of my former universities briefly lost accreditation due to administrative malfeasance. It was terrible ordeal for faculty and created a number of major paperwork difficulties for students seeking teacher licenses in other states . Similarly, I know that the threat of losing AEJMC or PRSA accreditation (respectively the most prestigious accreditation available for journalism and public relations programs) have saved some mass communication programs from administrators who had the attitude of "we're going to increase our writing course sizes to 60 and staff them with adjuncts whose only qualifications include an M.Ed. and a pulse."

I understand that it may be a tad annoying to encounter colleagues and students being overzealous about AACSB, but it may have very real benefits for them.

[clean]

Rent Seeking, I  wont argue that!
There are lots of other 'issues' with them. Once someone figures out the new standards, they are self fulling.  If, for example, someone gets accredited by using the Australian Business Deans Council List (for publication quality) then WE have to use the ABDC list (look it up!).  one of my Ph D buddies (now an associate dean himself) and I have discussed it several times and we have used the phrase "they all drink from the same poisoned well". once there is an idea (no matter how flawed), it is soon shared and like all good viruses replicated!

However, my state has decided that colleges should seek accreditation, and it IS a way for us to pry open the purse strings of the administration!  Ive been at this place for over 15 years. The size of the university and my college has grown almost 50% in that time, and with recent enrollment trends the COB is one of the larger colleges in terms of students, but one of the smaller in terms of faculty.  There are about 20% more faculty in the College of Business than when I was hired.  When we were last accredited we were told that we were barely meeting the standards for faculty coverage and told that the university/college must hire no fewer than 5 Scholarly Academic (a classification) faculty before the next visit (in 5 years).  We have searches going on NOW. Without the mandate to get and keep accreditation, I am sure that the admincritters would still be looking for any excuse to keep the college of business understaffed. 

For what it is worth, I would not work for a place that did not have AACSB accreditation.  Working at one is bad enough, but heaven help those that toil at a place without it!

[secundem_artem]

FWIW, I'm also of the opinion that a lot of accreditation standards are just a protection racket -- nice college ya got here.  Be a shame if sumthin' happened to it.

That said, the B school at Artem U lost its AACSB accreditation under a former dean and saw its enrollment collapse.  They got it back and enrollment has picked back up.

[dlehman]

AACSB accreditation does carry prestige and value, regardless of whether it has any real merits.  I personally am not a fan - I was once told by my Dean that he did not care where my articles were published, he only cared how many I published.  This was because AACSB counted publications - the number, not the quality.  Like many such accreditation schemes, it is a numbers game.  Many schools are not AACSB accredited because they emphasize teaching (hence, the lack of a large number of publications) and because of the price tag (that comes along with needing to hire people with good publication records).  Another anecdote:  I was at a small AACSB accredited school (actually the smallest one in the world) who had a string of excellent accounting professors, all with master's degrees (because they could not afford PhDs), all of whom were let go because AACSB requires that a certain percentage of your faculty have PhDs.  They were among the best teachers in the business school.  The PhDs that they did tenure were not very good teachers.

So, I'm not a fan of AACSB, nor am I a fan of any such accreditation schemes.  But, to be fair, the non-AACSB business schools have plenty of problems as well.  On average, the accreditation probably signals somewhat higher quality, but we don't live in a world of averages, so I don't think that is worth much (in an absolute sense).  It is worth something in a monetary sense - you will realize that if you try to create a joint program with a foreign institution - they seem to put a lot of value in AACSB accreditation (Germany actually codified this into law at one point).