AACSB revamps global accreditation standards; Focus on innovation, impact & engagement

Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) International, the global accreditation body, has released new set of accreditation standards. The new standards are aimed at helping business schools redefine the future of management education and meet the needs of business and society in the changing environment. The revised standards focus on triple objectives of Impact, Innovation and Engagement, and bring down the standards from 21 to 15.

The new standards were approved on April 8 by its members at the AACSB International Conference and Annual Meeting in Chicago, USA. These changes come after a decade of massive change in global economy and changing expectations from B-schools. The last such changes in AACSB Accreditation were made in 2003.

The new standards on Innovation put more emphasis on mission, financial strategies over funding sources, and guidance to apply the standards to different teaching/learning models. The standards on Impact put accountability to stakeholders, adapting to changing expectations and technologies, and better articulating how the school helps society. The standards on Engagement are aimed at keeping the key stakeholders in the business schools like students, faculty, community, business collaborate actively to create and share knowledge that is both scholarly and relevant to practice.

Business schools are at a time of unprecedented change. To remain current, leaders within the industry had to stand back and evaluate where management education needed to go, said Joseph DiAngelo, chair of the AACSB Board of Directors and dean of the Erivan K. Haub School of Business at Saint Josephs University. Throughout this process, we looked deeply at the marketplace to determine new routes to relevance, to ensure business schools are developing the type of leaders that society needs for the future. The changes will keep business schools at the heart of global commerce.

AACSB says that these standards also take into account a variety of growing trends in business education like Incorporating specific standards related to distance learning; placing an emphasis on sustainability and social responsibility and reflecting the growing importance of executive education at business schools.