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AACSB puts its accreditation on fast track

AACSB International the world's oldest accreditation agency has put its accreditation process on the fast track. Long delays in the accreditation process had kept many a potetial particcipant school at bay. The new norms fixes a maximum limit of three years for accreditation. Many schools including those from India have been waiting for AACSB accreditation for over five to six years! While the first fee is $1000 it is quickly followed if the application is correct by the Annual Accreditation fee of $4500.

Introduction

The revised AACSB Eligibility Application has been simplified, and requires a limited amount of understanding of AACSB terminology and concepts at the beginning stage of the process. Most notably, information regarding faculty qualifications, sufficiency, and assurance of learning is now submitted later on in the process.

Instead of a review process occurring three times per year, Eligibility Applications can now be submitted at any time, and will be reviewed on a monthly basis. Once reviewed, AACSB staff will make recommendations regarding the acceptance of the applications to the PreAccreditation Committee Chair (PAC), and will provide the Chair with suggestions for a volunteer to work in the role of mentor to the school. ** Along with the mentor, an AACSB Accreditation Manager will be assigned to the school. This manager serves as the school's Accreditation Staff Liaison, and the primary contact person for the school within AACSB for all accreditation related issues and questions. The time frame for this portion of the process has been shortened to now take 30–60 days.

** The role of the mentor is to assist the school with the development of a Standards Alignment Plan. This plan provides additional information related to the eligibility of the school, as well as an action plan for alignment with the standards. (The maximum time for plan development is 2 years).

NEW NORMS FROM JULY 1 2010

Process:

1. Applicant submits eligibility application as indication of interest to enter the AACSB accreditation process. With this application, the applicant school responds to eligibility criteria questions, and provides basic information about number of faculty, students, programs, level of programs, and organization structure. Along with the eligibility application, the applicant submits a non-refundable application fee of 1,000 USD. For ease of use, the new eligibility application can be accessed directly at www.aacsb.edu/accreditation/ NewApp/ .

2. AACSB staff confirms receipt of the application and the application fee to the applicant school. Staff reviews the application and makes recommendation to PreAccreditation Committee Chair (PAC) regarding acceptance of application.

3. An AACSB manager assigned to the school to serve in the role of Accreditation Staff liaison. This staff liaison serves as the contact person for the school within AACSB for all accreditation-related issues and questions.

4. The school receives decision letter from the Chair of the PreAccreditation Committee along with an invoice in the amount of 4,500 USD to be paid in full within a month after receipt of the decision letter. The timeframe for this portion of the process has been shortended from an average of six months to 30–45 days.

5. A volunteer is selected to work with the school in the role of a mentor. The responsibility of the mentor is to assist the school with the development of the Standards Alignment Plan. This plan should provide additional information related to the eligibility of the school, as well as an action plan for alignment with the standards. (Two years are allowed for plan development, but schools may submit their Standards Alignment plan within a shorter period of time.)

6. The applicant school must confirm in writing to AACSB that it approves the assigned mentor.

7. The mentor is invited, confirmed, and applicant is notified. If the proposed mentor does not accept the invitation, another volunteer will be proposed to the school.

8. The school completes, with the assistance of the mentor, the Standards Alignment Plan. (This is generally completed in one year or less, but may take a maximum of two years).

9. PAC reviews the Standards Alignment Plan which will lead to one of the following outcomes:

a. Accept of the plan with a recommendation to the Initial Accreditation Committee (IAC) to invite the school to develop a Self-Evaluation Report and to apply for initial accreditation—the Initial Accreditation Committee (IAC) must concur.

b. Acceptance of the plan with a recommendation to the Initial Accreditation Committee (IAC) that the school move into an Implementation Phase of the accreditation alignment plan. The school is asked to submit progress reports to IAC to keep the committee informed of the progress towards alignment with the standards (3 year implementation period is allowed)—the Initial Accreditation Committed (IAC) must concur.

c. Acceptance of the plan, but further development of the Alignment Plan is needed. The school accepted into the accreditation process, but the plan stills needs refinement. At this point, the PreAccreditation Committee will make the recommendation to the school to revise and resubmit their Alignment Plan prior to moving forward.

d. The alignment plan is not accepted by the PreAccrediation Committee (PAC), as it is determined that the school will not be able to align itself with the accreditation standard within the maximum time allowed under the PreAccreditation process.