Tim Harty, The Business Times

As business-school accreditations go, this isn’t run-of-the-mill stuff that every university gets at some point.

When Colorado Mesa University’s Davis School of Business officially earned AACSB International accreditation recently, it marked the school’s entrance into an exclusive group. CMU said in a news release it “joins an elite group of business schools worldwide as less than 6 percent of institutions have the AACSB distinction.”

Also, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business was founded in 1916 and “is the longest-serving global accrediting body for business schools, recognizing institutions that demonstrate excellence in teaching, research, curriculum development and student success.”

“This accreditation reaffirms the quality, relevance and impact of our business programs,” CMU President John Marshall said. “This recognition is a testament to the dedication of our faculty, the hard work of our students and the commitment of our entire university to delivering an education that is both rigorous and deeply connected to the real world.”

Suzanne Owens-Ott, interim academic department head of the Davis School of Business, said AACSB accreditation is a big deal because it comes from a third party “that specializes in evaluating business schools against the highest standards of quality. The accreditor establishes criteria – AACSB has nine – and then evaluates candidate schools against their ability to meet those standards.”

She said the standards are updated every few years, the most recent being 2020, and she compared it to having a financial-statement audit where an independent third party attests to the quality of the financial statements, so users know if they are reliable or not.

“AACSB attests that the (Davis School of Business) meets the criteria necessary to deliver a high-quality business education,” Owens-Ott said.

“This accreditation,” she added, “reflects the relentless commitment of our faculty, staff and students to elevating business education at CMU. It validates our hands-on, industry-driven approach and reaffirms our promise to provide students with the knowledge and skills they need to thrive in today’s competitive business landscape.”

The AACSB International accreditation stands to benefit Colorado Mesa as a recruiting tool, but Owens-Ott said there’s a greater benefit.

“It helps us to focus on continuous improvement and meeting the highest standards of quality in everything we do,” she said. “It drives us to make sure that everything we undertake directly relates to our mission, which is preparing our students to be business leaders in Western Colorado and beyond. It helps us analyze our curriculum, faculty staff and facility resources, student achievement and societal impact in relation to our overall mission.”

The accreditation also directly benefits the students of the Davis School of Business.

Owens-Ott said AACSB will help CMU’s business students stay abreast of the latest issues and changes in business and business education. It will make resources available that are shared on discussion boards, blogs, conferences and seminars.

“All these resources,” she said, “guide us in developing and updating courses and curriculum.”

For prospective employers, Owens-Ott said the AACSB accreditation serves as a seal of approval or quality that the Davis School of Business graduate came from a program that makes continuous improvement in business education a high priority.

Or, an undergraduate student who graduates from an AACSB accredited institution may find it easier to get accepted into a more selective graduate program, she said.