By Jonathan Smith, Managing Editor
Following a three-day visit from three college of business deans from around the country, the College of Business Administration waits for an official announcement in January to see if the college was recognized by the highest accreditation organization in the world, said Dr. Rick Lytle, dean of COBA.
The visit from the deans from the colleges of business at Ouachita Baptist University, Belmont University and the University of Minnesota-Duluth was the final step in the five-year accreditation process performed by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.
The committee, which arrived in Abilene Sunday and left Tuesday, spent its days at the university observing and interviewing students and faculty about the college. It audited the report COBA had submitted about itself in the spring; Lytle boiled down for what the committee looked into three areas.
“They looked for overall quality, adherence to their standards and evidence of the fulfillment of the school’s mission,” Lytle said.
Lytle said he felt the committee was impressed with what it saw.
Should COBA be accredited by AACSB International, it would join 452 colleges nationwide and 27 schools in Texas, including TCU, Southern Methodist University, Baylor University, Texas A&M University and the University of Texas at Austin.
COBA also would be just the second accredited member out of 145 schools in the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities.
Lytle said being accredited would mean “the quality of our program is equal to other schools in AACSB; it puts us in a different class of business programs.”
If accredited, Lytle said the university would have to be visited by a committee from AACSB every five or 10 years to renew the accreditation.
Besides improving the overall quality of the college, Lytle said becoming accredited would increase the recognition of ACU’s name around the country, as well as putting students in a better position for placement into jobs and graduate schools.
“Quality breeds quality,” he said.
