lost accreditation by forgetting paperwork?

http://newsletters.businessweek.com/c.asp?id=599811&c=ff88bf4ee58d67d2&l=2

wow.

 

Great. That is my alma mater too.

 

The article is unclear. It infers two contradictory points of view: that this was a simple paperwork oversight, but also that renewing ACBSP required resources that the Dean had decided to devote to pursuing the AACSB.

So did the Dean flake out, or did he make an executive decision to devote resources elsewhere?

In the lack of explicit prior guidance from the University I don't understand how he can be criticized.

 

A loss of accreditation due to a decision of a dean should not be a surprise to the Chancellor of a university.

 

That all depends on the level of autonomy delegated by/micromanagement exercised by the Chancellor.

Clearly they weren't on the same page, but that in my view is insufficient grounds for dismissal. If the Chancellor didn't lay down ground rules to the contrary the Dean didn't do anything wrong in my book.

As has been discussed here extensively, even AACSB is of arguable marketing value. ACBSP is a second-tier, low-value accreditation; it's difficult for me to understand why he'd need the Chancellor's approval to let go something of little further value.

The Dean's better off elsewhere, in my view. If the school's management cans people over ACBSP better they'd look at cleaning house at the top.

 

You must remember as of this moment the B-school is not professionally accredited by anyone. Most schools will not drop ACBSP accreditation until they have received AACSB accreditation. Also there is nothing saying you can't have both AACSB and ACBSP accreditation. ACBSP prides itself on "teaching excellence" where as AACSB emphasis "research excellence". ACBSP although not as prestigious as AACSB, it is nothing to sneeze at either. I'd consider going to an ACBSP school before going to an IACBE or just a plain old RA school. In some ways I personally think ACBSP has some policies that AACSB should adopt.

That being said, students attending applied and were accepted to an ACBSP school they expect that at the very least they will have a degree accredited by ACBSP(if they obtain AACSB while your there that's even better!)

In this instance I have to agree with Foobar that the dean should have at very least notified the Chancellor of his decision long before the Chancellor received the letter from ACBSP. The Dean made a decision that his boss thought was wrong for the institution. The Chancellor felt strongly enough about having an accredited B-school (regardless of being ACBSP) is important and the Dean did not check with him (or her). The mistake rose to a dischargeable offense at least in the Chancellor's eyes.

The morale of this story kids is: it's better to have and not need, then to need and not have!