I have a newbie question. I read through previous threads but did not see the info. What is the difference between regional accreditation and professional accreditation? Is one more prestigious than the other? I am beginning the online MBA at CSUDH and they are regionally accredited, but apparently not professionally. Thank you in advance for your imput. dkm
They sort of work together, with the regional accreditation of the school coming first. The regional associations accredit a college or university as a whole. Professional/specialized associations accredit a program or department within a college or university. You'll find a lot of schools that are accredited by USDOE-recognized associations and that have good departments that happen to not have accreditation. You won't find many -- if any -- departments that have professional accreditation within universities/colleges that are not accredited. ------------------ Kristin Evenson Hirst DistanceLearn.About.com
There are some (almost) exceptions to that rule. The Department of Education recognizes specialized professional accreditation as constituting institutional accreditation when an institution only offers degrees in that one particular field. For example, there are quite a few studio art schools that are not regionally accredited but which are accredited by (DoE recognized) NASAD, the National Association of Schools of Art and Design. San Francisco's Academy of Art College, a mega (6,000 student) art and design school is an example. In full-service RA universities having lots of diverse departments, the art department often has NASAD professional accreditation. That's true of San Francisco State, a WASC school with all kinds of professional accreditations: NASAD, AACSB, ABET etc. But the San Francisco Art Institute, the Academy of Art College's tonier cross-town art-school rival, has both WASC and NASAD accreditation. So some special purpose schools do opt for general institutional accreditation on top of their specialized accreditation. I've been told that some of the art schools skip regional accreditation because NASAD doesn't require them to offer as many general education courses in their bachelor's programs. NASAD is really only interested in the art classes.
Isn't the CSUDH MBA program accredited by ACBSP? It should be, unless they lost it for some reason. I'm assuming that's the sort of thing you mean by professional accreditation. It may not be AACSB, but it's something...
Professional accreditation can also have a role in employment. Some professions either require it, or require further qualification. Also, some employers may require it. For example, to be an engineering officer in the Air Force, you must have graduated from an ABET-accredited school. Also, NLN accreditation is required of nurses. In other situations, professional accreditation may not have much impact on employment at all. I've always felt this way about AACSB accreditation. It's a symbol of a quality business education, but I can't recall an employer ever asking about it or even commenting on it. It is safe to say that the impact of professional accreditation varies from profession to profession. I don't think it would be too difficult to find out the importance of it in yours. Rich Douglas
