Stature of ACBSP Accreditation?

Another question for my learned colleagues. What is the stature of the ACBSP? Is it a legitimate, well-respected business accreditation? Do they accredit B and M's as well as online schools?

 

The ACBSP is second after AACSB business accredited agency. Yes, it is legitimate. Usually ACBSP aiming for junior colleges, but certain schools are exception.

AACSB = Gold Standard
ACBSP = Silver Standard
IACBE = Bronze Standard

If your colleagues worry for future academia position, then should consider AACSB over ACBSP.

 

The ACBSP accredits the University of Phoenix and Northcentral University, both of which have doctoral programs, so the ACBSP goes beyond accrediting junior colleges; however, it could be fairly said that the ACBSP accredits smaller colleges that emphasize teaching rather than research.

 

As Ted has already pointed out ACBSP definitely accredits 4-year universities, is certainly a respectable business school accreditation, is legitimate, and is rated behind AACSB in notoriety. My current university Tarleton State has ACBSP accreditation and is in the process to obtain AACSB. And as a member of the Texas A&M University System, I would suspect their likelihood of success is probably pretty good. http://www.tarleton.edu/COBAWEB/coba/deansmessage.html

 

I'll echo what others have said. I teach at an ACBSP school. Having ACBSP accreditation certainly makes us a better school. However, there is a significant difference between ACBSP and AACSB.

Regards - Andy

 

Andy,
Do you believe the “significant” difference (AACSB /ACBSP) is in a school’s business program quality or more of an accreditation acclaim and recognition?

 

Andy and others: What is the major barriers to getting accreditation? For example, for AACSB it is the AQ/PQ for faculty and assurance of learning. What is it for this gorup?

 

Han,

“ACBSP's accreditation standards are modeled on the Baldrige National Quality Program (program is sponsored by The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce) and its Criteria for Educational Performance Excellence. This program is widely recognized by business and government, two important constituents of business schools. ACBSP's mission is to establish, promote, and recognize educational practices that contribute to the continuous quality improvement of business education programs, teaching of business courses, and student learning outcomes in colleges and universities throughout the United States and abroad. ACBSP is focused on what occurs in the classroom while encouraging scholarly research. ACBSP has over 585 member institutions (413 of which have successfully achieved accreditation) and is headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas.”

http://www.acbsp.org/p/st/ld/&sid=s1_025about

 

Research load for faculty and additional quantitative methods for MBA students seem the major quantifiable differences between ACBSP and AACSB schools.

 

Dave, how great are those differences? Are you saying that ACBSP is comparatively lightweight? Or, are you saying that they are similar, with only minor differences?

 

One major difference comes in size. The smallest AACSB program has about 15 full-time faculty members. Many of the ACBSP programs are smaller. When I've looked into AACSB, I've been told that one needs a minimm # of faculty per functional area. Also, AACSB does have higher research expectations - the "defacto" rule of thumb is two referred journla pubs in five years. ACBSP recognizes scholarship but isn't as demanding.

I believe it can be said that the strongest business programs in the US (and even the world) are AACSB accredited. For smaller programs ACBSP is a viable accreditation - and I believe schools are stronger for participating in their accreditation.

Regards - Andy

 

Michael,

AACSB International was organized in 1916 and began its accreditation function in 1919. In comparison, ACBSP wasn’t founded until 1988 and was recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as a specialized accreditation agency for business education in August of 1992 (e.g., CHEA wasn’t created until 1996). ACBSP certainly isn’t comparatively “lightweight”, but most certainly lags well behind AACSB in longevity. ACBSP’s niche and focus is on accreditation that acknowledges and emphasizes quality in teaching and learning outcomes vs. institution size and research scope.

I have talked with MBA grads from top rated (AACSB) programs who did not feel they had received all they should have from their programs. In several cases, teaching assistants delivered classes while the tenured professor was conducting research (e.g., publish or perish). On-the-other-hand, I have seen retired business executives teaching; they can really bring a vast amount of applied experience to a classroom. Would you rather be taught by Lee Iacocca, former CEO of Chrysler, or by some tenure professor who never ran a business? The sad thing is that Iacocca would never be made a tenured professor because he lacked tenure in academia and doesn't have a doctorate degree. So folks like Iacocca are more likely to teach at ACBSP schools than at an AACSB.

Specialized accreditation is of less importance than the school and its reputation of the say their MBA program; program reputation is most at issue and not so much the accrediting body. For most people the accreditation of an MBA program is not going to come up nearly as often as the program's reputation. For example, a school like Brigham Young University has a well established regional accreditation. There is no question about whether an undergraduate or graduate degree is bona fide nor is there any question of validity if a person's MBA is earned from BYU. What is at issue is the comparison /perception that takes place between say a MBA from Harvard or a Wharton or Darden and the MBA from BYU because program standing /reputation is what will probably matter most. The University of Warwick's Warwick Business School actually has specialized accreditation from AACSB (first UK institution accredited by), EQUIS and AMBA. But is Harvard’s MBA considered /perceived superior in name recognition?

 

The two missions posted is not helpful in understanding their requirements. For example, most small schools can not get around the 90% requirement of faculty being AQ/PQ. This is why many do not even try. Maybe other accrediting bodies have lessened requriements to help those small schools. So, back to the question about what is the requirements of ACBSP - is there a faculty requirement or the like?

 

ACBSP Accreditation

scroll to:

"ACBSP STANDARDS AND CRITERIA FOR
DEMONSTRATING EXCELLENCE IN
BACCALAUREATE/GRADUATE DEGREE
SCHOOLS AND PROGRAMS
Rev G
August 2009"


Take a look at Section 5.2.3, 5.3 and the relevant terminology in the glossary.

There is also this admonition in the criteria:

"Note: If your institution deviates significantly from these historically proven criteria you must demonstrate explicit rational for these requirements and provide detailed records of performance evaluation as it relates to program objectives."

 

With all due respect, that's ridiculous. Lee Iacocca, or anyone of similar status, would be professionally qualified to teach at an AACSB school. Look up PQ requirements

Find the ACBSP school with a Fortune 100 CEO teaching there. Those 'retired CEO's' are typically from small, regional firms (at best) and are just as likely to be used as instructors at an AACSB school.

It's ok to point out the differences in mission but let's not set up straw man arguments as though every retired Fortune 100 CEO is now teaching at ACBSP schools around the nation. Just about all of those schools require (or prefer greatly) a doctorate for full-time instructional positions.

 

Looking it over, there is no requirement for research. There is only doctorate req., then MBA with work experience (similar to AACSB's AQ/PQ, but with research requirements). If this is in fact the case, it makes it about the same as RA IMO, so if a school is RA, this might be nice, but not of value like AACSB.

 

Han - Not quite. If you look at section 5.8 you'll see:

Faculty members must be actively involved in professional activities that will enhance the depth and scope of their knowledge and that of their disciplines, as well as the effectiveness of their teaching. The institution must demonstrate a reasonable balance of scholarly and professional activities by the faculty as a whole consistent with the stated institutional mission.

The section goes on to require reporting of scholarship using the Boyer model (discovery, application, integration and teaching).

Having gone through ACBSP accreditation, I can tell you that scholarship is part of ACBSP expectations - but not to level that AACSB requires it.

Regards - Andy

 

The relative merits of the various school accreditations are a common and entertaining topic on this forum. No disputing that AACSB is the king of the hill. There are also fine schools with ACBSP (as there are fine schools with IACBE, even though it could be said to be the 3rd horse in a 1 horse race, prestige-wise). As for practical differences, many have observed that AACSB schools will favor AACSB in hiring, so if you hope to teach, AACSB leaves the most options open. Very many of the ranked business schools are AACSB, but as a shopper, it's not AACSB I think people are looking for there, it's the school and its other attributes.

Here's a shopper's comparison. In the low-cost MBA space, we have Jacksonville State University and Chadron State College. Both schools come in at or under $10,000 (tuition). That's a RA MBA that many people could pay for out of tuition plan at work. JSU is AACSB and Chadron ACBSP. Based on feedback here, both are fine programs. Their MBA admission requirements are comparable. Both have DL and B&M programs.

Based on my experience with Chadron and feedback here and other forums, Chadron places a lot of emphasis on participation and projects -- you work hard. The focus on participation may actually allow for quality networking though it is still online interaction. Chadron's customer service and student support are fabulous; they've been doing DL for a while and they do it well. The MBA is 36 semester credits, with thesis, non-thesis and project options:

Managerial Accounting
Managerial Economics
Managerial Finance
High Performance Leadership
Organizational Behavior
Business Strategy
Legal & Social Environment of Business
Information Systems for Managers
Marketing Management
Topics courses, project, or thesis

Based on feedback here, JSU is very rigorous in the traditional sense, requires a lot of paper writing, offers a little less friendly student experience, possibly the result of less experience in DL. As a state university, the alumni experience might be superior to Chadron. On the other hand I'm sorry to say I know people who would snicker at a degree from Alabama. The MBA is 30 semester credits, no thesis:

Accounting Information Analysis
Quantitative Methods for Business Decisions
Business Policy & Strategy
International Business
Managerial Economics
Financial Management
Business Leadership
Marketing Administration
2 electives

JSU offers a quant class and International Mgt, while Chadron wants us to take MIS, Law, and OB. Chadron seems a little more broad like a general business degree and less quantitatively focused, perhaps a good choice if your undergrad is not in business, or completed several years ago. You can get a MBA with no math, though whether that's a good idea, I'll leave for another discussion. Chadron's legal/social and OB classes probably cover ethics, which is important to a MBA curriculum IMHO.

You could look at this and say the choice is pretty easy -- $10K for a AACSB MBA? Done. Especially 30 credits vs. 36. Some points in favor of Chadron: it's cheaper -- you can cover tuition, books and get a new suit for interviews for $10K. Chadron is on 8-week terms -- if you have the stamina you could complete the program in a year, or do it in two years and have a little more balance in your life. I find the selection of electives at JSU underwhelming, while Chadron looks like they would work with me to customize my degree a little bit. Both schools' faculty hold Phds, and publish (though it looks like JSU has the edge on quantity of research).

At this level, it looks like the difference is mostly about what you want from the degree. Spending more -- I would look for the network and the name recognition, which would probably favor an AACSB degree.

Phillip

 

Han,

the majority of business schools don't hold AACSB accreditation. The individual value of AACSB programs is subjective at best. I say this because many smaller schools have a profound effect on the community, its businesses, and in some cases might be the only venue for residents to achieve a business education. While I can't argue the validity of business research at AACSB schools I believe it is not be fair to say that schools without AACSB accreditation aren't as valuable as those that have this status. I would also argue that AACSB needs the schools it accredits more than most of the schools need the accreditation. I doubt Harvard, Wharton, Kellog, etc...would be any less without AACSB accreditation.

 

I must have not been clear with the intent of that portion of the response. With that, I mean to say that the ACBSP does not seem to add any more value than the RA process. Maybe I am off here and would like to hear experiences.

I am not saying that AACSB is the only way to get recognition as a good / very good business school, but I think that is off the original thread discussion.