College of Management Earns AACSB International Accreditation
Founded in 1916, AACSB is the longest serving global accrediting body for business schools that offer undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral degrees in business and accounting. AACSB accreditation is the hallmark of excellence in business education and has been earned by less than five percent of the world’s business schools. Today, there are 593 business schools in 37 countries that maintain AACSB accreditation, 173 of which maintain an additional specialized AACSB accreditation for their accounting programs.
“We congratulate the North Carolina State University College of Management and Dean Ira Weiss for earning AACSB accreditation for the college’s accounting programs while maintaining AACSB accreditation for its business programs,” said John J. Fernandes, president and chief executive officer of AACSB International. “Dean Weiss and the faculty, directors, and administrative staff of the NC State College of Management are to be commended for achieving both accounting and business accreditations – an endeavor accomplished by only 173 business schools across the world.”
Achieving accreditation is a process of rigorous internal review, evaluation, and adjustment and can take several years to complete. The College of Management’s accounting programs were previously accredited as part of the college’s initial business accreditation, awarded in 2000. During the re-accreditation process completed in the past year, the college elected to also seek separate accreditation for its accounting programs.
“Accreditation recognizes our world class faculty and their commitment to helping our students achieve success through the continuous improvement of our programs and ongoing development of innovative curricula,” Weiss said.
Business schools participating in the accreditation process develop and implement a plan to meet the 21 AACSB standards requiring a high quality teaching environment, a commitment to continuous improvement, and curricula responsive to the needs of business.
To realize accounting accreditation, an institution must first earn or maintain AACSB business accreditation. Then, in addition to developing and implementing a mission-driven plan to satisfy the 21 business accreditation quality standards, accounting accreditation requires the satisfaction of an additional set of 15 standards that are specific to the discipline and profession of accounting.
“It takes a great deal of commitment and determination to earn and maintain AACSB accreditation,” said Jerry Trapnell, executive vice president and chief accreditation officer of AACSB International. “Schools not only must meet specific standards of excellence, but their deans, faculties and staffs make a commitment to ongoing improvement to ensure that the institution will continue to deliver high quality education to students.”
About the NC State College of Management
The North Carolina State University College of Management offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs in accounting, business administration and economics taught by faculty in the college’s departments of accounting; business management; economics; and management, innovation and entrepreneurship. The college is differentiated by its focus on preparing leaders for today’s technology driven global marketplace. Its curriculum includes project-based learning that integrates real world experiences with classroom instruction. The college’s Jenkins Graduate School of Management includes the Master of Accounting Program, Master of Business Administration Program, Master of Global Innovation Management, and the NC State Economics Graduate Programs, offered jointly by the NC State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the NC State College of Management’s Jenkins Graduate School of Management. The college’s accounting and business management programs are accredited by AACSB-International.
About AACSB International
Learn more about AACSB accreditation
AACSB International (The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business), founded in 1916, is a membership association of almost 1,200 educational institutions, businesses and other organizations in 74 countries and territories. AACSB’s mission is to advance quality management education worldwide through accreditation and thought leadership. AACSB accreditation is the mark of quality distinction most widely sought after by business schools—less than 5% worldwide have earned the achievement. As the leading membership and accrediting body for institutions offering undergraduate, master’s and doctorate degrees in business and accounting, the association also conducts a wide array of conferences and seminar programs at locations throughout the world. AACSB’s global headquarters is located in Tampa, Florida, USA, and its Asia headquarters is located in Singapore. For more information, please visit www.aacsb.edu.
