AACSB — Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business accreditation tips
Students aspiring to successful business careers want to enroll in business schools with a proven record of success and innovation. As a higher education institution, one of the ways you can differentiate your offerings is with AACSB accreditation. Many consider AACSB accreditation among the prestigious in higher education.
The AACSB was established in 1916 and remains a globally recognized nonprofit organization today. It sets high standards for excellence in business education and ensures that higher education institutions consistently meet these standards.
What is the Association to Advance Collegiate School of Business (AACSB)?
The AACSB aims to promote each business school’s commitment to improvement through a set of foundational principles. The accreditation process is voluntary and includes a thorough examination of your institution. The AACSB releases updated business standards annually to incorporate feedback from administrators and decision-makers from its institution members.
AACSB accreditation standards
On July 1, 2024, the AACSB released its annual update to the 2020 guiding principles and standards for business accreditation. However, the nine core standards remain unchanged. They include:
Strategic management and innovation
Business schools must have a clear mission and prove they are working toward achieving it. This standard includes:
Strategic planning: Your institution must maintain a strategic plan developed in collaboration with key stakeholders. This plan should outline a clear and focused mission for your institution. As you carry out your mission, you must embrace innovation as a crucial element of continuous improvement.
Physical, virtual, and financial resources: Your school must continuously manage its physical, virtual, and financial resources to promote a high-quality learning environment.
Faculty and professional staff resources: Your institution must have a qualified and engaged faculty with various classifications to ensure they’re well prepared and up to date. You must also provide plenty of support staff to help faculty and students thrive in line with your mission.
Learner success
This section of the accreditation standard focuses on student success in your institution’s degree programs and other learning experiences. Your programs must ensure that learners acquire the core competencies to embark on successful careers. The standard includes:
Curriculum: Your institution must offer a modern, globally focused curriculum that aligns with your mission. It must emphasize innovation and experiential learning and encourage active engagement among students and faculty.
Assurance of learning: You have a robust assurance of learning (AoL) system in place that uses various measures to maintain high-quality degree programs. It must also ensure consistency across different formats and locations.
Learner progression: Your school must have clear and effective policies for admissions, transfer credits, and academic progression. You must consistently share information about student success and program quality after graduation.
Teaching effectiveness and impact: Your institution has a thorough assessment process to support effective teaching and faculty development for delivering an innovative and relevant curriculum.
Thought leadership, engagement, and societal impact
The best business schools make a difference through educational activities, thought leadership, and stakeholder engagement. This section of the standards includes:
Impact of scholarship: Your faculty must produce high-quality research aligning with your mission and thought leadership. You must collaborate with various stakeholders to share relevant knowledge and showcase impactful contributions in basic, applied, and pedagogical research.
Engagement and societal impact: Your institution must positively impact society through its internal and external initiatives.
The key objectives of AACSB standards
The above standards fulfill the AACSB’s key objectives, which include:
Reinforcing long-standing AACSB commitments to mission focus and peer reviews.
Emphasizing a principles-based, outcomes-focused approach relevant to current and future business schools.
Recognizing the changing student demographic landscape and ensuring continuous improvement.
Valuing the diversity of thought leadership within a school’s mission.
Characterizing the guiding principles that represent AACSB’s core values.
AACSB-accredited programs
The AACSB provides accreditation for the following types of programs:
General Business
Management
Finance and banking
Accounting
Marketing
International Business
Computer information systems (CIS)/ management information systems (MIS)
Data Analytics
Human resources management, including personnel and industry or labor relations
Entrepreneurship or small business administration
Supply chain, transport, and logistics
Health services and hospital administration
Production and operations management
The AACSB accreditation process
You must meet stringent AACSB accreditation requirements designed to uphold the highest levels of educational excellence. The accreditation process includes:
Become an education member of AACSB: AACSB membership is a prerequisite for accreditations. As a member, you join an extensive network of business schools and receive access to learning opportunities and events.
Submit a unit of accreditation application: If you’re starting the accreditation for the first time, you must submit an application, which the initial accreditation committee will review. They must approve it before you can submit an eligibility application.
Submit an eligibility application: Your eligibility application is the first step toward accreditation. You can apply for business and accounting eligibility at the same time. AACSB staff will conduct a preliminary review. If you’ve provided all the necessary information, the initial accreditation or accounting accreditation committee will be needed for a final decision.
Develop an initial self-evaluation report (iSER): Once AACSB has approved your eligibility application, they assign a voluntary business school administrator to mentor and assist you as you develop your iSER. The AACSB will also assign your institution an accreditation manager, who becomes the primary contact person for accreditation questions.
Pay IAC or AAC acceptance and initial accreditation fee: You will receive an official communication from AACSB to confirm that they have accepted your eligibility application and assigned you a mentor. They’ll also send you an invoice for the acceptance and initial accreditation fees. You must pay it in full within a month of receipt.
Align your institution with accreditation standards: Your assigned mentor will work with you to determine whether your institution meets accreditation standards and identify opportunities for improvement.
Submit a final iSER and strategic plan: With your mentor’s consent, you can submit your iSER and strategic plan for review.
Final iSER review, pre-visit analysis, and school visit: The AACSB team will review your final iSER. They then schedule an accreditation visit, during which the team will visit your school and make a recommendation for accreditation, deferral, or denial.
Tips and tricks for AACSB accreditation
The main reason that AACSB accreditation is so complex is to keep raising the bar for institutions. Once you’ve progressed through the accreditation process, you’ll attract high-quality students who want to study at accredited institutions. You can use accreditation to align your campus around strategic goals.
Streamline the process with the following tips:
Understand the criteria for AACSB accreditation: The more familiar you are with AACSB criteria, the more effectively you can identify and address improvement opportunities before evaluation.
Figure out how to tell your school’s story: The accreditation process is about more than checks and balances. It’s an opportunity to highlight where you came from, the challenges and successes you faced on the way, and your plans for the future.
Set up a communication system: Achieving accreditation is about collaborating with your team to highlight your school’s strengths. Communicate with your stakeholders throughout the process to gather data, identify opportunities for improvement, and boost student success.
Prepare for the accreditation visit: Much of the accreditation process revolves around metrics. Accreditation professionals want measurable indications that you’re meeting AACSB standards and a mechanism by which to measure your continuous improvement efforts. A constant process for measurement helps you identify issues in real time so that you can adequately prepare for the visit.
Implement software solutions: Accreditation readiness software enables you to build strong foundational processes so you can demonstrate your processes without the scramble. It keeps the accreditor’s expectations at the top of your mind as you prepare for accreditation and helps you stay aligned with your mission and goals.
Prepare for AACSB accreditation with Watermark
AACSB accreditation is concrete proof that your institution provides consistent, high-quality business learning experiences. It pushes you to improve your programs, which attract high-caliber students. Despite the countless benefits of accreditation, the process can be challenging.
Watermark is here to streamline the process. Our accreditation readiness solutions simplify, facilitate, and enhance your data so you can demonstrate your program’s success without the hassle. With our educational impact suite (EIS), you can gather your data and transform it into actionable insights. Feel empowered in your decision-making and request a demo today!
