2016 Recipients

The AACSB International Innovations That Inspire initiative shines a spotlight on a variety of ways that business schools are changing the face of management education.

From October 15 through November 20, 2015, AACSB member schools were invited to share ways in which they have challenged the status quo. Nearly 300 innovations were submitted from more than 200 institutions across 35 countries—an array of inspirations that illustrates an impressive commitment to engagement, innovation, and impact.

Of these innovations, the ones highlighted within are not a ranked list, nor do they represent a "best of" listing. Rather, they exemplify some of the ways business schools are taking a forward-looking approach to education, establishing cutting-edge ties with industry, and even championing revolutionary initiatives for the betterment of higher education as a whole.

In the coming months, AACSB will continue to feature more schools and innovations that demonstrate an impressive range of creativity and a commitment to quality.

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University of California Northridge

California State University, Northridge, David Nazarian College of Business and Economics

Category: Strengthening the Understanding of Effective Leadership Development

The David Nazarian College has created a large-scale automated follow-up system that provides benchmarks on student earnings, employment, and industry over a 10-year period.

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Colorado State University

Colorado State University, College of Business

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ACTIV82LRN is an online application that allows students to engage in social learning by answering questions, while viewing and evaluating the answers of fellow students.

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ESSCA

ESSCA School of Management

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ESSCA’s innovative course is focused on developing entrepreneurial spirit through a triple-blended learning approach that fosters close and progressive interaction between students and freshly graduated entrepreneurs.

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HEC Montreal

HEC Montréal

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HEC Montréal created an experiential business history course comprised of a 12-day, 500-kilometer cycling trip where students see first-hand the forces behind Quebec’s industrial development.

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Iowa State University

Iowa State University, College of Business

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Iowa State University has established an international live case study that simultaneously allows students to observe a complete supply chain while traveling abroad.

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Kennesaw State University

Kennesaw State University, Coles College of Business

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The Kennesaw State University Doctor of Business Administration was the first AACSB-accredited doctoral program designed to provide a research doctorate for non-traditional students. Over 80 percent of graduates pursue faculty positions.

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Lancaster University

Lancaster University, Lancaster University Management School

Category: Cultivating the Business School Leadership Pipeline

Enabling local growth across 15 regions, Lancaster University Management School played an unprecedented role in implementing governmental policy through the design, delivery, and evaluation of a £32 million national program.

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Manchester Metropolitan University

Manchester Metropolitan University Business School

Category: Cultivating the Business School Leadership Pipeline

In partnership with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, the Manchester Metropolitan team devised two unique honors degree programs in tax, one designed for students to graduate into the profession, and a second for senior policy staff.

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Massey University

Massey University, Massey Business School

Category: Enhancing Approaches to Leadership Education Development

The Research Translation Competition demonstrates research relevance to external stakeholders. It builds staff capacity and confidence in communicating research to a non-specialist audience.

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Open University

Open University, Business School

Category: Cultivating the Business School Leadership Pipeline

Open University Business School invests significantly in creating free online learning resources. This now includes investment in supporting journeys from informal to formal learning.

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Pontificia Universidad

Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Escuela de Administración

Category: 

The Changemaker Academy of Social Innovation seeks to train the next generation of social innovators to collaborate in the sustainable development of the planet.

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SP Jain

S.P. Jain Institute of Management & Research

Category: Cultivating the Business School Leadership Pipeline

The S.P. Jain Institute involved faculty, staff, students, and alumni in a timed, zero-cost social media campaign around authenticity—the core of the institute.

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Sakarya University

Sakarya University, Faculty of Management

Category: Cultivating the Business School Leadership Pipeline

The Faculty of Management aims to place the foreign students studying at Sakarya University as interns in several small- and medium-sized export companies in the city of Sakarya.

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Singapore Management University, Lee Kong Chian School of Business and School of Accountancy

Singapore Management University, Lee Kong Chian School of Business and School of Accountancy

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The SMU-X Initiative is an experiential approach to learning that encourages students to step out of silos to collaborate in an interdiscplinary and hands-on way.

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Solbridge Intl' School of Business

SolBridge International School of Business

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The student SolBridge Debating Society serves as an instrument for promoting social change, empowering students as change agents and developing a leadership and entrepreneurial spirit within the individual.

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Saint Mary's College

St. Mary's College of California, School of Economics and Business Administration

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St. Mary’s has created a new Digital Driver’s License faculty program to ensure that SEBA faculty members teach as well online as they do in the traditional face-to-face classroom.

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George Washington University

The George Washington University, George Washington School of Business

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Through its Capital Markets Program, the GW School of Business collaborates with the Milken Institute and the International Finance Corporation Treasury to train mid-level African professionals.

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UNC Kenan-Flagler

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Kenan-Flagler Business School

Category: Cultivating the Business School Leadership Pipeline

The Leadership App is a state-of-the-art course app for UNC Kenan-Flagler’s comprehensive and one-of-a-kind MBA Leadership Immersion program.

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University of Oklahoma

The University of Oklahoma, Michael F. Price College of Business

Category: Strengthening the Understanding of Effective Leadership Development

As a component to restructuring its associate dean and executive staff into three dedicated areas, the University of Oklahoma incorporated the Office of Economic Development into the Price College of Business.

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University of Texas Dallas Naveen Jindal School of Management

The University of Texas at Dallas, Naveen Jindal School of Management

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Professional Online Portfolios (POPs) empower students to showcase their core knowledge, leadership potential, and engaging personality to both potential employers and the world.

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Universidad del Pacifico

Universidad del Pacífico, School of Business Sciences

Category: Cultivating the Business School Leadership Pipeline

The Academic Exchange Program (PIE) is a collaboration program in which Peruvian public university faculty aim to strengthen their teaching and research capabilities in the fields of business, economics, and public management.

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Sovay Brussels School

Université Libre de Bruxelles, Solvay Brussels School of Economics & Management

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TRIAXES brings together students from business, engineering, and design departments. Students design, develop, and market a new product, hence diving into a real entrepreneurial venture.

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University of Buffalo

University at Buffalo, State University of New York, School of Management

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The school created space exclusively for management undergraduates that facilitates varied learning styles and helps students build a sense of community with faculty, staff, and each other.

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Haskayne School of Business

University of Calgary, Haskayne School of Business

Category: Enhancing Approaches to Leadership Education Development

Piers Steel at the Haskayne School of Business is one of the founders of metaBUS, a groundbreaking research tool with the capacity to transform the speed of social science research.

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University of Delaware

University of Delaware, Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics

Category: Cultivating the Business School Leadership Pipeline

The JPMorgan Chase Innovation Center is an on-campus facility providing on-campus jobs and applied research opportunities for students with University of Delaware faculty and JPMorgan Chase employees.

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University of Pretoria

University of Pretoria, Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS)

Category: 

GIBS introduced a core module that aimed to expose students to the political, social, and economic challenges experienced locally before embarking on their international immersions.

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University of Queensland

University of Queensland, UQ Business School

Category: Enhancing Approaches to Leadership Education Development

An innovative two-page template provides novice researchers with a simple, methodical tool to confidently "pitch" a new research proposal to an academic expert.

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University of Wisconsin

University of Wisconsin-Madison, Wisconsin School of Business

Category: 

Introducing new language at the Wisconsin School of Business sparked new conversations and shifted school efforts from delivering classroom teaching to inspiring student learning.

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University of Wellington

Victoria University of Wellington, Victoria Business School

Category: Cultivating the Business School Leadership Pipeline

Victoria Business School has established six Partnership Professorial Chairs focusing on contemporary issues that are of critical importance to its local and regional stakeholders.

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Wake Forest University

Wake Forest University, School of Business

Category: Strengthening the Understanding of Effective Leadership Development

The school deployed an individualized faculty evaluation approach by incorporating a six-path model that energizes and rewards faculty excellence irrespective of path and increases instructional quality and research productivity.

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