More on Accreditation and Unaccreditation

I meant AACSB as national

AACSB = Platinum
RA = Gold
etc.

 

I think that in general, one can say that a department with:

RA + specialized accreditation > RA alone.

There might occasionally be cases where a department without specialized accreditation is particularly distinguished and might not feel that it needs the specialized accreditation. For example, UC Berkeley's studio art programs are not accredited by NASAD, but somehow manage to muddle along. (That "Berkeley" name does open doors.) Of course, some artists might argue that while Berkeley is a powerhouse in things like mathematics and Altaic linguistics, it really isn't the strongest art school out there.

When you compare specialized accreditation and regional accreditation head to head, things are muddier. Can we really say:

Specialized accreditation alone > RA alone?

Perhaps in some special applications. Sometimes specialized accreditations are required in order to qualify for licensing examinations or something. Sometimes the specialized accreditation has more credibility within a profession. ATS probably has more clout than WASC among clergymen and theologians.

But the reverse is true too. You hear about universities refusing to accept transfer credit from non-RA schools with specialized accreditation. It might be harder to get some kinds of teaching jobs perhaps, particularly outside one's narrow field.

It's probably a case-by-case deal, and depends on what field and what schools we are talking about, and what use is contemplated for the degrees or credits.

But in the case of AACSB, I have never heard of a non-RA school with AACSB accreditation, at least in the United States. That means that we are comparing schools that are both RA and AACSB with schools that are only RA. Probably (but not certainly) the former beats the latter.

But notice that this isn't a comparison of AACSB with RA, and it certainly doesn't imply that AACSB is superior to RA. A physics major probably cares a great deal about RA, but doesn't care about AACSB at all, since it's totally irrelevant to physics programs.

 

That's what I think. Regional accreditation plus professional accreditation (AACSB, ABA, APA, ABET, etc) is like Platinum.

 

The professional accreditation would appear to be the platinum. In counseling, you have a much shorter path to licensure and certification if your master's degree is CACREP or CORE approved. In psychology, it is almost impossible to get licensed if your degree is not APA approved.