Maine Business School Wins Reaccreditation
Contact: Ivan Manev, (207) 581-1968
ORONO — The Maine Business School in the University of Maine’s College of Business, Public Policy and Health has earned reaccreditation by one of the world’s most prestigious accrediting bodies, the AACBS International.
Fewer than 5 percent of the world’s business schools offering undergraduate, masters and doctoral degrees in business and accounting are accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. The AACSB this month announced that 46 business schools, in addition to UMaine’s, have retained accreditation and 11 achieved first-time accreditation.
The accreditation follows an exhaustive review of the school. The renewed five-year accreditation verifies that the MBS conforms to highest standards for faculty qualification and sufficiency in all business disciplines, assurance of learning, and continuous improvement, says Ivan Manev, dean of the College of Business, Public Policy and Health.
“It takes a great deal of commitment and determination to earn AACSB accreditation,” according to Jerry Trapnell, executive vice president and chief accreditation officer of AACSB International. “Schools must not only meet specific standards of excellence, but their deans, faculties and staffs must make a commitment to ongoing improvement to ensure that the institution will continue to deliver high quality education to students.”
The Maine Business School has been continuously accredited since 1974. The school offers undergraduate programs in accounting, finance, management, marketing and international business, and an MBA with tracks in accounting, finance, management, and sustainable business. It is one of only two institutions in Maine that carry AACBS accreditation, according to Manev.
“This reaffirmed accreditation comes as no surprise, as we have a number of faculty with national and indeed worldwide reputation as teachers and scholars,” Manev says. “Our students learn the state of the art in business disciplines. Just this past spring, we were ranked in the top 20 percent on a national comprehensive exam for undergraduate students and in the top 15 percent for graduate students. The reaffirmed accreditation was a systematic and collective effort and reflects the hard work of all faculty and staff.”
Independently, the Maine Business School was recognized by two other organizations last year. For a third year in a row it was ranked as one of the top 1,000 business schools out of 22,000 worldwide by Eduniversal!, an international business school rating organization. And for the first time this year, US News & World Report included it in its national ranking of best undergraduate business programs.
A news release on the AACBS International website has additional detail.