AACSB Expectations Regarding Student-Faculty Interaction

The Essential Nature of Student-Faculty Interaction
A critical determinant of faculty sufficiency is opportunities students have to interact with faculty members as a part of their educational programs.  Higher education is more than just one-way communication from faculty members to students.  Faculty members’ presentations or lectures, absent of additional interaction, are simply a form of information delivery, not higher education.  Such non-interactive delivery would be similar to other forms of non-interactive delivery whether reading a book, watching a film, or visiting a Web site.  While a student could learn from such an experience, it takes responsive interaction in some form to transform the experience into higher education. 

This interaction can take many forms such as an opportunity for the student to ask for clarifications, a faculty member's feedback on a student essay, a discussion among students and faculty, etc.  The faculty resources of the school must be sufficient that interactive experiences are available in all courses and all major learning experiences of the program.  One way that review teams will explore faculty sufficiency will be to ask for student feedback about interaction.  Another way review teams can observe signs of interaction will be in discussion with faculty members about pedagogy used or in examinations of syllabi to see the types of learning experiences provided.

Programs with a preponderance of learning experiences in large lecture courses will raise questions among reviewers about interaction opportunities, as will programs with large student-faculty ratios.  Review teams will consider the ratio of degrees awarded per faculty member among comparison schools, and they will raise questions of faculty sufficiency when a school under review is different from the comparison group.  Specific pedagogical approaches or delivery systems may warrant exceptions.  Programs that are mostly, or entirely, conducted by distance learning also will raise questions about opportunities for students to have appropriate interaction with faculty (and with other students), and the school will have the burden of demonstrating that it provides significant learning interaction opportunities.   

Intellectual Level of Student-Faculty Interaction
The role of interaction in higher education makes it especially salient that faculty members have in-depth knowledge in their teaching fields.  To receive high quality education students must have access to substantive experts in the respective disciplines.  Faculty members must be capable to respond to questions from a deep understanding of theoretical, empirical, and practical knowledge of the subject matter they teach.  Faculty members chosen mainly for their experience background, rather than for traditional academic preparation (research doctorate) should bring a broadly informed understanding to the learning experience so that they do not present material and respond to students from a narrow perspective.  The school will have the burden of demonstrating that such faculty members bring a breadth and depth of perspective to their teaching assignments.  See Standard 10 for more information about faculty qualifications.

The following Student-Faculty Interaction Principles form the context in which reviewers will evaluate the learning experiences available to students.

Student-Faculty Interaction Principles

1.            Interaction opportunities are available to meet unique needs of individual students.  Students have opportunities to gain assistance regarding idiosyncratic questions and needs in interactions with faculty members, staff, and other students.

2.      Interactions are consistent with the school’s mission and characterized by integrity and respect among participants.  Interactions students have with faculty members, staff, and operations of the school are consistent and reliable.  Student’s views and circumstances are not neglected in the learning experiences.  A level of professionalism is practiced among all participants.

3.      Constituent groups have opportunities to learn from each other.  Learning experiences provide opportunities for sharing of knowledge and experience from faculty to students, from students to faculty, among students, and among faculty.  A learning community is established that allows free expression and continuous learning.

4.      Students have access to disciplinary experts in curricular and extra curricular situations.  Students have access to faculty members who have in-depth expertise in their fields of teaching.  Course material, feedback on student performance, and extra curricular interactions are informed by faculty knowledge that is both current and relevant.

5.      Interaction among faculty members produces a coherent and integrated learning experience.  Degree programs result from coordinated faculty efforts to provide systematic, cumulative learning.