What is the relationship between AACSB accreditation and the rankings?
The relationship depends on the particular media ranking and other factors, such as geography. In the U.S., programs usually must be delivered by an AACSB-accredited institution to be included in rankings. Outside the U.S., a larger than ever number of ranking systems are requiring that schools be AACSB-accredited or accredited by another locally held accreditation body. It is important to note that AACSB accreditation reviews include all the business and management programs of an institution, not just the MBA programs that are usually the focus of media rankings. Also, accreditation is much more complete in that it examines the mission, strategy, students, faculty, staff, curriculum, and educational outcomes through a comprehensive peer review process. This is in contrast to the media rankings focus of collecting opinions about programs. What does it mean if a program drops in the rankings? You must understand the methodology to know why a program’s rank drops. Media organizations gen
