There is nothing in their standards document that specifies required institutional recognition. And from their website we have this: Any appropriately authorized collegiate institution offering degrees in business administration and accounting may volunteer for AACSB International accreditation review. Sounds pretty open to me. But what it says and what they do are most certainly two different things.
I suppose the DETC school would have to show and prove their academic rigor and quality of the institutions degree programs. Not an easy task for any school, whether regional or national accreditation. Are there any DETC/AACSB institutions out there?
Jamie, here is a link to a list of Schools Accredited in Business - ordered by name. http://www.aacsb.edu/General/InstLists.asp?lid=2
I recevied this response from DETC... To the best of my knowledge, no, DETC institutions are not eligible to apply by virtue of their distance delivery method. While I agree the accreditation is highly prized, they do not seem willing to accept 100% distance institutions. I plan to follow up on this matter. Thank you for contacting us! Mike Lambert -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, May 18, 2005 12:32 PM To: [email protected] Subject: DETC Info Request Jamie Gauthier [email protected] Mr. Lambert, I was wondering if DETC accredited institutions would be eligible to apply for the prestigious AACSB accreditation that many regionally accredited schools apply for and achieve. I know the AACSB is highly respected in academia and the business world. Jamie Gauthier
Actually in theory now that have read two documents on the matter of AACSB accrediation it does appear that any DETC school that was willing to subject themselves to the strict standards on AACSB would be eligible. It actually states it this way " "P.1.a A School seeking accreditation by AACSB-The International Association for management Education should have appropriate governmental authorization to grant degrees". P.1.b:"The School normally should be a part of an institution accredited br an institutional accrediting body or authorized by the appropriate governmental jurisdiction." Of course what is deemed "appropriate governmental authorization" is what AACSB would have to try and define. Now I looked at ACBSP standards and they clearly state,if you are not RA don't bother. I do think there would be alot of hurdles to AACSB accrediation for a DETC school. The biggest of course being the fact that they pride themselves on being the"premier accrediting agency for bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs in business administration and accounting". So in otherwords I have a feeling that some of the members may not be too happy with the idea, particularly the smaller institutions who try to use AACSB as a selling point. The Harvard's and Wharton's of the world have the least to lose(because they really don't need AACSB, like AACSB needs them).
