Posted on April 8, 2002 at 2:35 p.m.
BIRMINGHAM, AL — The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Business and its accounting program have received reaccreditation from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AASCB). AACSB is the international accreditation organization of business schools.
AASCB commended the UAB School of Business for a variety of accomplishments, including the quality of its 54-member faculty who are documented leaders in their fields; reality-based programming that yields quality students with proven career success; close ties to the business community; demographic diversity among students, faculty and staff; collaborative and entrepreneurial initiatives proven to be beneficial to the economic vitality of the region; the Quality Assurance Program that guarantees employers that graduates are prepared to enter the workplace; and the frequent review and update of curriculum content to assure career success for graduates.
“Receiving and maintaining accreditation is important because it enhances the quality of the degrees our graduates receive,” said Robert Holmes, Ph.D., dean of the UAB School of Business. “About 30 percent of business schools nationwide and less than 10 percent in the world are AASCB accredited.
“Our school is a living laboratory with a practical and reality-based method of teaching. The curriculum, in conjunction with our internship programs, continues to create impressive relationships with the business community that benefit our students and the business firms we serve. The reaccreditation is a testament to the quality of our faculty, staff, students and graduates.”
The school first received AASCB accreditation in 1973, just two years after the school’s establishment in 1971.
“That had never been done before and hasn’t been done since,” Holmes said. “We received our initial accreditation at a time when less than 20 percent of business schools nationwide were AACSB accredited.
“Not only that, UAB’s accounting program was among the first 17 programs in the nation to receive AACSB accreditation in 1982, when the AACSB began offering separate accreditation of accounting programs. All of our majors, programs and concentrations are 100 percent certified with the AACSB seal of approval and have been for almost 30 years.”
The AACSB is a not-for-profit organization made up of educational institutions, corporations and other entities devoted to the promotion and improvement of higher education in business administration and management.
Organized in 1916, AACSB is the premier accrediting agency for bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs in business administration and accounting. Its founding members include Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, New York University, Northwestern University, The Ohio State University, Tulane University, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Chicago, the University of Illinois, the University of Nebraska, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Texas, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Yale University.