MBA News: Should Accreditation of Business Schools Change?

According to an article in the New York Times, a debate is brewing over the accreditation of business schools. Although many people view accreditation as an indication of a high standard at an institution, Thierry Grange, dean of Grenoble’s School of Management in France and co-chairman of a committee set up by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, says that for business schools, “accreditation is not standard led. It is mission led.” According to Julie Margetta Morgan, an education expert at the Center for American Progress, accreditors should “require all their members to submit transparent measures of student success, such as graduation rates, retention rates and the number of students who transfer out into better or equal institutions” to show “quality improvement.” Such measures would ensure that for-profit institutions such as the University of Phoenix—which has a 9% graduation rate, yet is accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools—would lose their accreditation.