Collaborative Programs: Managing Faculty Qualifications

Many questions arise regarding joint or dual-degree programs offered by two or more collaborative business schools. As with any AACSB-accredited business degree program, mission consistency, overall high quality, and continuous improvement must be demonstrated in such arrangements. One key issue is the deployment of faculty in support of such programs by the participating institutions. Regardless of a program’s structure and delivery mode, it is critical that the collaborative program be supported by sufficient and qualified faculty that are consistent with AACSB Standards 9 and 10. For a business school that participates in collaborative degree programs, it must include the faculty from partner institutions in its accreditation documentation. The school should indicate that the faculty are qualified to support the program consistent with the applicant school’s expectations. Other factors that must be addressed relate to student admissions, student support systems, and assurance of learning (AoL) strategies for the entire program if the applicant school grants its degree to program graduates.

Develop Thorough Operating Agreements

Joint programs should have carefully constructed operating agreements. These agreements should outline faculty requirements and necessary qualifications. The faculty model developed by the participating schools should be structured to provide sufficient amounts of qualified individuals for each program offered. Once an agreement is in place, it should be actively monitored by all participating institutions. For example, careful assessments should be performed on a regular basis to ensure that faculty resources are aligned with the agreement—which should be aligned with AACSB Accreditation Standards. Overall, the agreement should define faculty allocations that are beneficial to the programs and missions of both schools.

Burden of Proof

AACSB-accredited schools are responsible for the faculty that are teaching in any program that is included in the accreditation review. For example, if a school in China seeking AACSB Accreditation partners with a school in South America to offer a dual-degree program, it must include the faculty from the South American school that are teaching in the program in its accreditation review. This also should be done even if the partner school is not accredited by AACSB. Schools should be prepared to describe how faculty involved in these types of programs (and any program for that matter) are trained, monitored, and held accountable for the outcomes of the learning environment. Program evaluation models should be constructed to carry out these types of assessments. Additionally, a school’s AoL processes will likely need to be altered to properly assess student learning across the entire collaborative program. It may even be necessary for a school to create a special AoL system for its joint programs—perhaps even at the individual program level if the offerings are delivered in diverse settings or through multiple platforms (online, classroom, etc.).

The overarching objective, regardless of degree level, location, or delivery mode, is to always have appropriately qualified and sufficient faculty that deliver high-quality programming that produces successful graduates. This scenario should be reassessed with each program that a school offers. Schools should have strong faculty management policies that are aligned with its program portfolio and business school mission.

Blue Ribbon Committee (BRC) Update

AACSB recently added an area to its website for the BRC, www.aacsb.edu/brc. The pages include information about the committee, as well as associated events, and related initiatives. AACSB members can access BRC meeting summaries, co-chairs’ meeting reports, discussion papers, as well as other resources by following the links and logging into the new BRC Community Site within Exchange. Anyone can subscribe to an RSS feed for updates on the most recent additions to the Web area and Exchange site, as well as other up-to-date BRC information.

Upcoming Asia Pacific Accreditation Events

Assurance of Learning Seminar
2–3 December 2011
Guangzhou, China

29 February–1 March 2012
Singapore

Business Accreditation Seminar
27–28 February 2012
Singapore

Maintenance of Accreditation Seminar
2 March 2012
Singapore