AACSB Endorses Innovative Programs Preparing Non-Business PhDs for Business School Faculty Positions

In response to critical doctoral faculty shortages and rising enrollments in management education, AACSB International, the accrediting organization for business schools worldwide, announced its endorsement of “Post-Doctoral Bridge to Business Programs” that prepare experienced and new doctoral faculty from academic disciplines outside of business for faculty positions in accounting and finance, marketing, management, supply chain management, international business, and entrepreneurship.

The five schools to offer these programs are The University of Florida (USA); Grenoble Ecole de Management (France); University of Toledo (USA); Tulane University (USA); and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (USA). All of these schools are AACSB-accredited and programs are slated to begin by the summer of 2008. Individual program concentration, length, delivery method, and other factors vary and are consistent with each of the selected school’s strengths. This flexibility among programs provides interested candidates with options that suit an intensive summer scheduling preference, or a year or longer program that often uses distance technology to enhance student-mentor interactions. 

AACSB International’s endorsement ensures each program will be rigorous and prepare both experienced and new doctoral faculty from academic disciplines. The programs will serve as a bridge to facilitate the transition of these scholars so they can more quickly pursue faculty positions in management education. 

The programs evolved from the findings of a 2003 report, Sustaining Scholarship in Business Schools prepared by AACSB’s Doctoral Faculty Commission chaired by Judy Olian, AACSB’s Chair and dean of the UCLA Anderson School of Management. The report takes into account current PhD enrollments, projected demand for business education, faculty retirements, and the typical hiring of PhDs by accredited and non-accredited schools, and concludes that in the U.S. alone there will be a shortage of approximately 2,500 PhDs by 2012. 

In response to this trend, AACSB sought innovative programs to attract high quality business school faculty – especially faculty capable of contributing to critically needed business research. “This is a vital step in addressing the shortage of academically qualified faculty that threatens the ability of business schools to meet the growing demand for high-quality business education and research,” said John J. Fernandes, president and chief executive officer of AACSB International. “Increasing the academic diversity of our faculties through this program will strengthen our ability to meet this global demand.”

About the Graduates

Graduates from an AACSB accredited Post-Doctoral Bridge to Business Program may be classified as Academically Qualified (AQ) in their disciplines for a period of five years from the date of graduation.

The preamble to current AACSB standards states that “academic quality is created by the educational standards implemented by individual faculty members in interactions with students.” The central tenet of the standards remains that all faculty, AQ, PQ and other, are necessary to support high quality academic programs, continuous improvement, and high quality graduates.

These outcomes are delivered by faculty members that:

• are experts in the subject matter of their teaching and research fields
• are experts in the educational process and the theory of learning; and
• are active scholars through their research and other development activities that support the maintenance of intellectual capital in their teaching field.