October/November 2009

AACSB Accreditation News

Involving Your Colleagues in the Accreditation Process

Achieving and maintaining accreditation (institutional and specialized) is a significant accomplishment for a school. But, with the increasing demands on business school faculty, staff, and administrators to publish, develop courses, and assess student performance, accreditation can be the last thing on the minds of many. With this potentially being your reality, the question is: how can a business school motivate broad-based involvement during the accreditation process?

Accreditation is the result of a variety of effective processes—a reward for the ability to support quality and continuous improvement. For instance, when an automobile manufacturer produces a vehicle with a superb level of reliability or when a restaurant consistently serves delicious meals, a standard of quality is reached. The ability to consistently demonstrate excellence is then rewarded by industry-wide recognition. This equates to higher revenue, dedicated employees, an improved ability to compete, and an overall positive presence in the marketplace.

For business schools, demonstrating quality and continuous improvement can equate to recognition in the form of accreditation. Achieving accreditation can increase resources for faculty, enhance programs and high-quality research, and improve the overall learning environment. Accreditation can also help increase the quality of applicants, raise enrollment, and produce graduates that will be proud of their accomplishments and excited about global career opportunities.

Accreditation is an optimum time to bring together the entire business school, from faculty members, staff, department chairs, students, and deans, to engage in a 360-degree assessment of the direction of the school. It is a chance to raise issues, address concerns, and even enhance programs. The process of accreditation can establish the framework for advancement, expansion, communication, and more. However, any accreditation process can be very tedious. Activities such as creating reports, pulling data, and reviewing standards in detail are all tasks that take time and resources. Yet, all educational institutions have to do it—schools of medicine, colleges of engineering, law schools, etc.

Here are a few ideas on how to build collaboration and interaction during the initial and/or maintenance of accreditation process:

Communicate Regularly with the Entire School

Establish a schedule of meetings or other lines of communication with your colleagues to increase their involvement and share ideas related to the advancement of your school. Because the standards can be interpreted differently by different people, it is important to work through the process together so that everyone is clear as to how the criteria are defined. By creating open lines of communication, you will help your colleagues to better understand the accreditation process and become more aware of what their school is doing with regards to strategic direction.

Involve Colleagues with Special Expertise

Seek out colleagues for assistance throughout the accreditation process based on their specializations or interests. For example, is one of your colleagues a strategy expert? This person would be valuable at looking at your school’s strategic plan with the peer review team. Perhaps someone is experienced in the areas of human resources or organizational behavior. This person would be ideal at deciphering your faculty resources with regards to the standards. By connecting colleagues with standards that are related to their expertise, you are providing them a chance to expand their credentials and take on parts of the accreditation process that can normally be challenging.

Involve Students

Students may serve as an excellent resource throughout the accreditation process. They can gather data, compile and create reports, and even provide valuable insights. Student assistants and/or student advisory boards may be quite helpful in pursuing or maintaining accreditation.

Take Time to Acknowledge on Your School’s Achievements

After you achieve or maintain your accreditation, it is important to use the recognition to build your school’s brand, reputation, and morale. For example, many schools place signage around their campuses to announce their achievement of accreditation. Others hold celebrations to recognize their hard work and commitment to quality. These things may seem simple, but they often mean a lot to those who have helped your school earn this benchmark of excellence. Additionally, they are methods for communicating to prospective and current students about the quality of your programs.