AACSB International Announces New Accreditation Standards for a New Era in Management Education

CHICAGO, April 9, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- As society demands more from the world's business schools, dramatic changes in higher education are creating new challenges and opportunities. To provide leadership for this new era in management education, AACSB International (AACSB) announces the release of a new set of accreditation standards for the world's leading business schools.

Approved April 8^th by its membership at the AACSB International Conference and Annual Meeting in Chicago, Ill., USA, the standards will help business schools redefine the future of management education and meet the needs of business and society in the changing environment.

After two-plus years of study and collaboration with the global management education community, AACSB's Blue Ribbon Committee on Accreditation Quality (BRC) has critically examined market needs, re-considered definitions of excellence and the role of accreditation, and focused on defining new standards that:

• Drive innovation in business schools to create and sustain value for students, employers, and the communities they serve.
• Go beyond quality and ensure that business schools also have an impact through both scholarly education and the creation of new knowledge.
• Require significant engagement between faculty, students, and business professionals, fostering meaningful intersections to create and share knowledge that is both scholarly and relevant to practice.

Just as every organization and individual has been challenged in the past decade to reconsider how to create value in a rapidly changing global economy, so too have business schools faced questions about their approaches to educating future leaders.

"Business schools are at a time of unprecedented change. To remain current, leaders within the industry had to stand back and evaluate where management education needed to go," said Joseph DiAngelo, chair of the AACSB Board of Directors and dean of the Erivan K. Haub School of Business at Saint Joseph's University. "Throughout this process, we looked deeply at the marketplace to determine new routes to relevance, to ensure business schools are developing the type of leaders that society needs for the future. The changes will keep business schools at the heart of global commerce."

Designed to give business schools the flexibility to innovate to meet the needs of the employer and student markets—while still holding institutions to the highest standards of quality—the new standards will provide a new benchmark for excellence.

"The new environment calls for schools to focus on their distinctive mission and value proposition. Students, employers, and society as a whole expect a great deal from business schools—especially when it comes to addressing the most challenging issues of the world," said Richard E. Sorensen, chair of the BRC, and dean of the Pamplin College of Business at Virginia Tech. "In this context of constant change, the new accreditation standards will not only validate quality management education and impactful research, but also help business schools provide the leadership, skills, and knowledge necessary to the communities they serve."

About AACSB International
AACSB International (The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business), founded in 1916, is an association of more than 1,350 educational institutions, businesses, and organizations in 83 countries and territories. AACSB's mission is to advance quality management education worldwide through accreditation, thought leadership, and value-added services. As the leading accreditation body for institutions offering undergraduate, master's, and doctorate degrees in business and accounting, the association also conducts a wide array of conferences and seminar programs throughout the world. AACSB's global headquarters is located in Tampa, Florida, USA, and its Asia Pacific headquarters is located in Singapore.