Istanbul University Earns AACSB Accreditation

TAMPA, Florida, July 25, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- AACSB International (AACSB) announced today that Istanbul University has earned accreditation for its Faculty of Business Administration. Founded in 1916, AACSB International is the longest serving global accrediting body for business schools that offer undergraduate, master's, and doctorate degrees in business and accounting.

"AACSB congratulates Istanbul University and Dean Erhan Ozdemir on earning accreditation, and we welcome them into the family of AACSB accredited business schools," said John J. Fernandes, president and chief executive officer of AACSB International. "AACSB Accreditation represents the highest achievement for an educational institution that awards business degrees. Dean Ozdemir and the faculty, directors, and staff of Istanbul University are to be commended for their role in earning accreditation."

AACSB Accreditation is the hallmark of excellence in business education, and has been earned by less than five percent of the world's business programs. Today, there are 655 business schools in 44 countries and territories that maintain AACSB Accreditation. Similarly, 178 institutions maintain an additional specialized AACSB Accreditation for their accounting programs.

Achieving accreditation is a process of rigorous internal review, evaluation, and adjustment and can take several years to complete. During these years, the school develops and implements a plan to meet the AACSB Accreditation Standards, which require a high quality teaching environment, a commitment to continuous improvement, and curricula responsive to the needs of businesses. Also required by the AACSB standards, all accredited schools must go through a peer review process every five years in order to maintain their accreditation.

"It takes a great deal of self evaluation and determination to earn AACSB Accreditation, and I commend Istanbul University for its dedication to management education, as well as its leadership in the community," said Fernandes. "Through accreditation, Istanbul University has not only met specific standards of excellence, but has also made a commitment to ongoing improvement to ensure that the institution will continue to deliver high quality education to its students."

AACSB International also announced that Chonnam National University (South Korea), Dongguk University (South Korea), Peking University (China), Providence College (US-RI), Universiti Putra Malaysia (Malaysia), West Texas A&M University (US-TX), and The University of Texas at Brownsville (US-TX) earned AACSB Accreditation in business.