Park University business students will now be able to claim that they will graduate not only from an accredited university – but from an elite accredited business program.
After a two-year process, the Park University School of Business has become accredited by the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs, a global business accrediting body.
The ACBSP has a mission to improve the quality of schools and programs at an international level, according to its website. The ACBSP offers services that help improve teaching and student learning outcomes and offers resources to improve and develop success to its members.
“The school of business has obtained the ACBSP accreditation,” said Dr. Brad Kleindl, school of business dean. “This is an international business school accrediting organization that has set its standards for accreditation based on Baldrige Criteria.”
The Baldrige Criteria is a program that promotes excellence by improving class levels, strategies, practices and principles as well as provides workshops, conferences and evaluation to the organizations involved.
The process took two years and consisted on the collection of data as well as changing and improving the quality of the program. Kleindl said the accreditation lasts for 10 years with reports every two years to guarantee the improvements in the process.
“The purpose of a business school accreditation is to ensure that the business school has put in place a total quality management approach,” Kleindl said. “What that means is that the school has identified goals that meet the needs of students and the business community that we serve and that we are assessing our program outcomes to assure that we are reaching our goals and that we use our assessment information to constantly improve our programs.”
Park University is accredited by a regional organization, the Higher Learning Commission, which is controlled by U.S. Department of Education. Park now has two individual programs accredited in addition to the HLC – the nursing program and now the school of business.
“The difference between the ACBSP and other business school accreditations is that the ACBSP accreditation is designed for teaching mission business school,” said Kleindl. “Business schools can adapt different missions, some are research focused others are teaching focused; our focus is on excellence: teaching and learning excellence.”
The business school accreditation will start to benefit students who want to attend graduate school or find a job by confirming the level of quality Park provides its students
