AACSB accreditation

AACSB-accreditation

Memorial’s business faculty was first accredited in 2002 — the first business school in Atlantic Canada to achieve this distinction — and is currently one of 25 Canadian schools to hold AACSB accreditation.

For over a century, AACSB accreditation has been synonymous with the highest standards in business education. Accredited schools have successfully undergone a rigorous review process conducted by their peers in the business education community, ensuring that they have the resources, credentials and commitment needed to provide students with a first-rate, future-focused business education.

The fundamental purpose of AACSB accreditation is to encourage business schools to hold themselves accountable for improving business practice through a commitment to strategic management, learner success, and impactful thought leardership. AACSB-accredited schools are considered the best in the world.

What Does AACSB Accreditation Mean to the Faculty of Business Administration and How Does It Affect the Student Experience?

AACSB-accredited schools must pass rigorous quality standards and have been proven to provide the best in business education worldwide.

Every five years, we go through a continuous improvement review process for which we must demonstrate our alignment with accreditation standards. This is a rigorous, multi-year process of internal and peer review, continuous improvement and strategic planning. As part of this process, a peer review team consisting of experienced educators and business school administrators, visits our faculty and makes a recommendation for accreditation.

Achieving and maintaining AACSB accreditation means that a school stands by and supports the guiding principles of:

  1. Ethics and integrity: We support and instill ethical behaviour in our students, staff and faculty members in their learning and professional activities. For example, we defined learning goals for our degree programs ( graduate and undergraduate) that include ethical behaviour and our new undergraduate B.Comm. degree includes a course on business professionalism.
  2. Societal impact: We strive to use business education as a tool to improve our world through our teaching, our research and our engagement activities. Our MBA-SEE program and the Centre for Social Enterprise are some examples of how we work to achieve this. Our Engaging Ideas series bridges the gap between research and business worlds, and our researchers aim make a positive, real-world impact on the world of business.
  3. Mission-driven focus: Our strong strategic plan provides direction for everything we do. Our strategy is based on Memorial’s special obligation to the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.
  4. Peer review: Every five years we demonstrate to an external team from other business schools how we uphold the AACSB goals and standards. Our last successful peer review was in 2022.
  5. Continuous improvement: We’re constantly looking for ways to improve our faculty, our degree programs and the student experience we offer. Our latest example is the extensive redesign of our undergraduate degrees for Fall 2022. We constantly measure how well we achieve our program learning goals and use these insights to improve individual courses and our degree programs.
  6. Collegiality: Our team of staff and faculty members has mutual respect and trust for each other. We work together to deliver exciting programs for a superior student experience.
  7. Agility: We’re always watching for changes in our environment, and we collaborate with external business stakeholders to remain aware of new developments. For example, our leadership team works closely with our advisory board and our Associates Program members to identify new trends in business and requirements for business education.
  8. Global mindset: We want our students to understand the global perspective to business and to appreciate other cultures and values. For example, our program learning goals reflect this mindset, both at the undergraduate and graduate level, and we partner with numerous schools around the world to offer international student exchanges.
  9. Diversity and inclusion: We proudly embrace the diversity of peoples, cultures and ideas. We instill respect and acceptance of different viewpoints and values.
  10. Continued adherence to AACSB guiding principles and business standards: Our commitment is ongoing. We have been continuously accredited since 2002, and we’re already working towards our next accreditation review in 2027. Guided by our strategic plan and this commitment to AACSB principles and standards, we’re dedicated to cultivating the next generation of business leaders in Newfoundland and Labrador, and beyond.

AACSB insights