Although the first class of students graduated from Baylor University’s Hankamer School of Business in 1925, this year the School celebrates 50 years of accreditation by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB).
AACSB International accreditation represents the highest standard of achievement for business schools worldwide. Institutions that earn accreditation confirm their commitment to quality and continuous improvement through a rigorous and comprehensive peer review.
“The faculty and staff at the Hankamer School of Business are certainly proud of having earned this ‘seal of excellence’,” said Dr. Terry Maness, dean of the School. “More importantly, our students and alumni, as well as the businesses who hire them, can be assured that a business degree from Baylor is truly a valuable thing. Less than 5 percent of business schools worldwide have achieved AACSB accreditation.”
After delays in accreditation due to the Great Depression, and then World War II, Baylor was admitted with a provisional associate membership in the AACSB in 1950, associate membership in 1953, and on May 9, 1959, the school achieved unconditional full membership in the AACSB.
Maintaining accreditation is an ongoing process and helps to drive the business school’s pursuit of excellence.
The high standards for accreditation include: strategic management of resources, interaction of faculty and students in the educational process, and achievement of learning goals in degree programs.
According to the AACSB, “these standards are mission-linked.” Baylor Business’ own mission states the school is “…guided by Christian commitment and champions life-long learning, highly-regarded scholarship and service to others as its highest ideals. The school seeks to produce business leaders with recognized integrity, superior theoretical knowledge and practical skills of modern global business developed through an experiential learning environment. We engage a diverse group of undergraduate, graduate, and executive students and alumni in a curriculum that produces graduates of value to business organizations and to their communities.”
AACSB International is a worldwide organization comprised of more than 1,100 educational institutions, businesses and other organizations from 70 countries. AACSB International is the longest serving and largest global accrediting body for business schools that offer undergraduate, masters, and doctoral degrees in Business and Accounting.
Baylor’s Hankamer School of Business will be celebrating this momentous achievement throughout 2009 with building pageantry and with a special edition desk calendar, listing special events, achievements and facts about Baylor Business for each day of the year. Events are also planned during Baylor’s 2009 Homecoming festivities.
Baylor Business Review, Spring 2009