About the Program

In addition to accreditation, AACSB International supports management education through research and analysis.  Through its Thought Leadership effort, AACSB identifies the concerns of management education and leads the response to these issues.

As part of this effort, the Doctoral Faculty Commission (DFC), an AACSB committee that addressed the concerns with global doctoral faculty shortages in business, recommended that AACSB initiate strategies to enhance the school’s ability to place high quality professionally qualified faculty into the classroom.

Sustaining Scholarship in Business Schools

In response to these recommendations, the AACSB Bridge Program was developed by the University of California, Irvine and the University of Southern California to prepare senior business leaders for a successful transition into a career in business education.

About Professionally Qualified Faculty

Professionally qualified faculties are highly experienced industry experts who are teaching at the collegiate level without a Ph.D. However, not every business professional is able to become a PQ faculty unless they have significant levels of experience and responsibilities. The following AACSB International paper further explains the concepts of PQ faculty in alignment with AACSB accreditation standards.

Deploying Professionally Qualified Faculty:
An Interpretation of AACSB Standards

Past Programs

The inaugural program took place in October 2006 on the campus of the University of California, Irvine and graduated 26 professionals. The second program took place May 2007 on the campus of the University of Southern California and graduated 25 professionals.

Click here for more information on our program graduates.