Dear Editor:
The articles written by Cheryl
Fields only present one perspective of “Taking Care of Business at
HBCUs” (Dec. 12, 1996). There is another specialized accrediting
association for business schools and programs besides the the American
Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB).
There are approximately 2,400 institutions of higher education that
have business programs in the five traditional fields of business
education — accounting, business administration, finance, management,
and marketing. The institutions may also have specialized areas of
study — such as human resources management, management information
systems, and public administration — which are a part of a business
academic unit and considered as business-related curricula.
Approximately half of these institutions are two-year colleges and the
other half are four-year schools, some of which have graduate programs.
Business education as a professional field of study is four times
as large as the next largest professional field which is teacher
education.
In 1988, only 260 of those 2,400 institutions had their business
schools and programs accredited and the process was administered by
only one organization. Many of the remaining 2,140 institutions felt
that an alternative organization should he created to satisfy the
business accreditation needs of their institutions. Most of these 2,140
institutions had (and still have) student-oriented excellence in
teaching as their primary objective, as opposed to a heavy emphasis on
research. They wanted an accrediting organization that had this same
emphasis reflected in its accreditation standards.
Hence, the Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs
(ACBSP), a new accrediting organization, was created with its primary
emphasis directed towards fostering excellence in teaching. ACBSP was
also founded to help institutions improve the quality and integrity of
business education.
