Northcentral University Receives ACBSP Accreditation

From the Northcentral University learner website:

Nice!

 

The ACBSP website still lists NCU in candidacy.

http://www.acbsp.org/index.php?mo=st&op=ld&sid=s1_025about&stpg=141

 

I also noticed that. At the public website http://www.ncu.edu/ on the lower right they also claim ACBSP accreditation.

I doubt that they would claim it without achieving it but you never know!

 

I wonder what Dave Wagner's take is on this?

 

Looks like I made it before the defense!

 

Don't worry. He'll be here. He seems to gravitate to all the NCU threads just like white on rice.

 

How about a link to the specific statement you posted? Because I couldn't find it anywhere on the NCU website.

 

It is posted as an announcement to students into the learner’s website after you log in, before you go to your classes. Not on the public site yet as far as I can tell.

 

NCU posted it on the lower right-hand corner of their web page.

"Northcentral University is accredited by the Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs – ACBSP"

 

HA!

That is true. However, I was refeering to the fact that I haven't yet defended my dissertation and thus not graduated. Ergo, when I do graduate (hopefully by the end of the summer) I'll have completed my degree while NCU has ACBSP accreditation.

 

Wow, you've come a long ways! Congradulations!

I don't know if ACBSP will have any significance, but it certainly can't hurt. It seems like NCU has recently gotten quite a few additional bennies, of late, so maybe that's a positive trend for the school. On the one hand, some people look down on online degreees; but on the other hand, it's the wave of the future.

 

About ten years ago, the Edinburgh Business School was considering ACBSP accreditation. The founder/head of the school, Keith Lumsden, and I, flew to Kansas City (on Easter Sunday) for a Monday morning meeting. The head of ACBSP welcomed us, and said, "Now, I trust you're prepared to show us how you have integrated our required curriculum modules in your MBA program." Dr. Lumsden replied (in his rather gruff Scottish way) that the MBA curriculum had been developed and refined by 20+ faculty over fifteen years, and there was no intention of making significant changes just because ACBSP insisted on them." The chap from ACBSP said, "Then I believe this meeting is over," and he left the room. And that was that. I had the best barbecue of my life at Arthur Bryant's,* and flew home.

__________
*Calvin Trillin has called this the world's best restaurant. I can relate to that.

 

Great story. That sounds like one of the intreviews I conducted recently! By the way, I am VERY proud of NCU and their accreditation I just wish I would ave paid for the entire program when they weren't RA. What a deal that would have been.

 

When I was considering NCU I e-mailed them and asked about potential business accrediation. I received a reply telling me that they did not believe AACSB was currently achievable. The IACBE was not CHEA recognized so they were not even considering them. They said they were going to take a very close look at the ACBSP. I am so glad they followed through. I really did not think they were going to.

 

What significance does AACSB have in the business world, as well as in the collegiate world? I've heard some people rant and rave (Dave Wagner ) that some colleges and universities must now pursue specialized business accreditations because RA standards are simply too low, especially with the influx of online degrees in the 21st Century.

 

AACSB accreditation is becoming almost a must for those looking to teach after their DBA or PhD. There is a trend to hire professors with credentials from schools accredited by AACSB. Eventually, RA alone will be almost useless for academic employment.

ACBSP might open some few doors otherwise close as some schools might take ACBSP instead of AACSB, it is better than nothing but not something that could give you much more employment opportunities.

 

What's the difference between AACSB and ACBSP? Which is preferred, if any?

 

There are some schools that would take graduates of ACBSP accredited schools for a tenure track as the examples below:
http://employment.uwa.edu/jobs/221.asp

http://chronicle.com/jobs/id.php?id=0000504320-01

http://www.cedarville.edu/employment/facultyopenings.cfm



However, most schools look for graduates of AACSB accredited for tenure track positions. NCU has scored good points with this one as it adds some value to the degree as you can at least apply to more positions. They know that in the future, institutions without AACSB or ACBSP accreditation will eventually become obsolete. ACBSP accreditation keeps them in the game for a while.

 

I agree. Going ACBSP makes me believe that NCU takes professional accreditation seriously. I would have been very disappointed if they went the IACBE route since the IACBE seems to have a problem getting CHEA recognition.

Nontheless, AACSB appears to be by far the best route for those that want to teach full-time. As more schools achieve AACSB it looks like the choices of those with non-AACSB doctorates will decrease.

 

Finally updated.