ACBSP vs. AACSB

First, let me get the bias out of the way, after all that is an important thing for an academic to do, reduce bias, or at least recognize it and deal with it. I am biased, not because I believe ACBSP is better than AACSB, but because I distrust anything used as a bar to eliminate opportunity for otherwise qualified people. AACSB accredited colleges and universities use this accreditation to reduce competition for their programs. That, in my opinion, is just wrong. Well, if you have a labeled first point, there ought to be a second. My secondary bias is my school is not AACSB accredited, it is ACBSP accredited, and I firmly believe our academic rigor and achievement is top of the line. So, you now know where I am coming from, let's see where I am going.

ACBSP is the Association of College and Business School Programs, where AACSB is the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. There is another accreditation at the international, which is International Assembly for Collegiate Business Education (IACBE). They each have a niche to perform in and overlap in the major area of offering accreditation for schools of Business. Notably, ACBSP mentions on their website that they offer accreditation to colleges and universities with associate, masters, and doctoral degree programs. Their focus is on the 2,400 schools of higher education with programs in business administration, finance, management, and marketing. They do work with programs that include economics in their business school courses of study. ACBSP was founded in 1988 in Overland Park Kansas. In 1992 ACBSP was recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Later in 2001, due to a federal program change ACBSP was recognized by the Council on Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA).

Here are some interesting facts. ACBSP has an agreement with the National Honor Society Delta Mu Delta whereby the society will form chapters only at colleges and universities that are accredited by ACBSP. ACBSP is the only accrediting program to recognize programs offering Associates level education in business.

Now, about AACSB, the big distinction is that AACSB is more focused on schools that stress research. The AACSB website does not stress this point, every other program recognizes it, and it is mentioned on the ACBSP werbsite, and is not challenged. AACSB is older, having been founded in 1916. One of the interesting points that AACSB makes, and it is mentioned several times on their website, is that they ensure the graduates of AACSB accredited schools are ready to go to work on day one. They also claim the schools they accredit produce graduates that are getting the good jobs upon graduation due to the networking they provide.

Both ACBSP and AACSB push the fact they are CHEA recognized, and they both tout this distinction over the IACBE accreditation. Fact is many programs are getting multiple accreditations, which is usually ACBSP and IACBE, or AACSB and IACBE. In fact, my school, Northcentral University's School of Business and Technology Management is accredited by ACBSP, and now is provisionally accredited by IACBE.

To reach the closure on this post, let me say that I believe the accreditation mess is a matter of snobbery and smugness. AACSB graduates (actually graduates of schools with that accreditation) are probably no more qualified for their upcoming career endeavors than ACBSP graduates, and certainly both are on par with IACBE accredited school graduates. You want to know why I so resolutely make this assertion? Easy, it ain't about the accreditations, it is about the academic programs. If the business school is assuring rigor and top notch teaching, then the accreditation is going to find that, and endorse that program. If it is not, they will protect their brand and not accredit.

This is all so very academic until it strikes a blow in the real day-to-day get-a-job world. There is where the snobbery and smugness become intolerable. The colleges and universities with AACSB accreditation are keeping the ranks closed to disallow graduates of non-AACSB programs into their halls as teachers, or even adjuncts. It is a weak program filled with academic discrimination, and eventually it will fall. But, just now, it is quite apalling to see those openings for tenured positions restricted to graduates from AACSB programs. The playing field needs leveling, in a soon sort of way.