Anake Nagari 11/312274/EK/18355 Accounting 2011 Regular Program AACSB Week: Call for Essay

AACSB: QUALITY IMPROVEMENT AND GLOBAL RECOGNITION

Faculty of Economics and Business Universitas Gadjah Mada (FEB UGM) is one of the leading faculty at UGM that does not stop doing self-development efforts. In line with its goal to become a World Class Research University, the faculty wants to be recognized as a leading faculty nationally and internationally, so the continuous adjustments to existing standards is required. Academic standards implemented in FEB UGM were usually developed and implemented together and with the approval of the National Accreditation Board for Higher Education (Badan Akreditasi Nasional Perguruan Tinggi or BAN-PT). Its a sole accreditation board established in 1994 under the Ministry of National Education (Kementerian Pendidikan Nasional). The results of BAN-PT accreditation process, FEB UGM got the full score A for all 12 its study programs, includes bachelor's, master's, and doctoral programs. Not satisfied with that, FEB UGM began to look at other academic standard which is much more strict, it is an international accreditation from The Association to Advance Collegiate School of Business (AACSB). This term is probably still a bit foreign in FEB UGM. Many students know just little, and some even have absolutely no idea about it. When in fact, the process to obtain this accreditation requires the involvement of all faculty members.

Overview of AACSB

AACSB is a worldwide membership organization for business schools established in 1916 by the United States of America that focused on quality management education. Through this organization, business schools can engage with one another and discuss issues related to business education.

In 1919, the first AACSB Accreditation Standards were set with the primary objective to improve collegiate business education. The AACSB Accreditation Standards are used as the basis to evaluate the mission, operations, programs, faculty qualifications and contributions, and some other critical areas. Business schools seeking accreditation have to be assessed against the standards. In 1980, an additional set of accreditation standards were set specifically for accounting programs. Throughout the years, both the standards have been continually revised to adapt with the needs of education and business. AACSB Accreditation is the highest standard for business schools worldwide. Less than 5% of the world's 13,000 business programs have earned AACSB Accreditation. Indonesia is one example of a country that has not had any AACSB-accredited university.

What Makes AACSB Important

AACSB members, including the FEB UGM which has been registered since 2006, will be easier to conduct research. An example is by regularly attending AACSB Conferences which gives updates on important issues in the world of business education. In addition, the real benefits that can be seen is the focus in improving the quality of education. Many aspects of development can be assessed both qualitatively and quantitatively, such as the faculty members, systems, and facilities. When a business school is AACSB-accredited, its courses and graduates are recognized as having superior quality. Students who enter will get better in quality and the number of foreign students and business partners will also increase. AACSB-accredited business school graduates are considered to have learned the best knowledge and be prepared to be a professional worker. Thus, these graduates will be easier to get a scholarship for further education, and is also easier to obtain prestigious jobs. Another proof of AACSB-accredited business schools' quality can be seen from its ownership of: stricter school entrance test standards, reliable learning methods, graduates with higher GPAs, and more undergraduates that decide to pursue master's degrees. AACSB also develop good lecturers due to the various qualifications in its standards to be achieved. Lecturers were divided into Academically Qualified (AQ), which required the lecturers to have been obtained doctoral degree and already has two scientific journals that have been published within a year. Professionally Qualified (PQ), which required lecturers to engage in business practices such as a commissioner or entrepreneurship. Lastly, Others (O) which is a category of lecturers who do not meet all those qualifications.

To be stated as AACSB-accredited, a business school must have at least 90% of AQ lecturers and 50% of PQ lecturers, and maximum 10% of O lecturers from the total registered lecturers. Inevitably, lecturers will always try to improve its quality. In terms of faculty and staff, AACSB-accredited business schools have been recognized to have members with high academic and professional criteria, who will continue to ensure faculty programs run effectively. Faculty and members will have the opportunity to develop a broader global career. By becoming a member of AACSB, there will be connection, access, and beneficial cooperation with the business communities as well as other schools around the world. In terms of systems, AACSB requires adjustment to the needs of education and business. Programs and teaching methods will be established in such a way to achieve the learning goals of each study programs, without deviating from the government's own rules. There are some important qualifications required by the AACSB, one of them is the emphasis on student-centered learning. The learning system is set to allow students to participate actively. Students are expected to have good interaction, also to be able to explain and apply the knowledge gained. It is good to train students, not only for current education but also to be applied later in the workplace. Lastly, the facilities development. In accordance with the primary task of students, learning is the most important. If the learning infrastructures are comfortable, sophisticated, and easy to use, students and lecturers will be eager to perform its responsibilities. In addition to learning facilities, other non-academic facilities that can make the entire space of interaction among faculty members become more comfortable is also important. It is intended as a means of refreshing from routine tasks. Such facilities would be found easily in AACSB-accredited business schools. The faculty member can do a better job because their needs have been provided by the faculty.

The Significance of AACSB for FEB UGM

After understanding the importance and the benefits derived from AACSB accreditation in general, now we need to know specifically about why FEB UGM should encourage the achievement of AACSB accreditation. First, the faculty need to use the momentum to be a pioneer of AACSB-accredited business school. If we get the accreditation soon, then FEB UGM will receive various benefits for being the first school in Indonesia that officially recognized by the international

community. Foreign students who want to study in Indonesia, international business partners and even investors, would prefer FEB UGM because its quality have been proven. Second, as noted previously, there are many qualifications to be met in order to pass the AACSB accreditation. FEB UGM needs to take advantage from the AACSB accreditation process as an incentive to undertake various developments on the faculty. But of course this development process is not without obstacles. AACSB is undergoing a period of change of standards, because standard 2013 has already formed as a replacement for the standard 2003. Standard 2003 includes 21 standard with three aspects of assessment ("Strategic Management", "Participants", "Assurance of Learning"). Standard 2013 includes 15 standard with four aspects of assessment ("Strategic Management and Innovation", "Participants-Students, Faculty, and Professional Staff", "Learning And Teaching", "Academic and Professional Engagement"). The constantly changing standards force FEB UGM to keep make revisions. Although it is not easy to do, but it appears that the changes always heading towards the better path. In order to adjust with the AACSB standards, student-centered learning getting more dominated in FEB UGM. Students are given a various teaching methods that allows them to practice independently to know how to apply the knowledge they have gained while working. Changes in the existing curriculum is also seen to be effective. Some courses, for example Introduction to Economics that used to directly given in one semester, now split into two semesters. Intermediate Accounting is also now split into three semesters from two semesters. This policy helps students in reducing stress due to the excessive learning materials, so they can be more focus on learning. Next, related to the lecturers quality. AACSB FEB encourage lecturers to continue develop their potential in order to meet the required criterias. But unfortunately one of the requirements that is the research is still difficult to achieve, this is because of the lack of time due to the large amount of teaching hours. This is why the number of lecturers who meet the AQ standards in FEB UGM is still in the range of 50% of the minimum conditions. Facilities in FEB UGM is another real progress. Its facilities are keep improving to be more decent so it can be equated with other international universities. The interesting and sophisticated classrooms and learning medias, comfortable and well-ordered library, information and data collection systems that are always up to date, as well as internet access that is fairly fast. Added with the beautiful atmosphere of the free area where the interaction of the faculty members occurs, FEB UGM is an appropriate place to learn.

The third as well the final reason is associated with the fund. Achieving AACSB accreditation process requires huge funds. FEB UGM must pay membership fees, funding research, finance curriculum workshop and international events such as the AACSB Conferences. It also needs to provide incentives for lecturers who conduct research. If the FEB UGM has been through all the stages of assessment and declared as fail, then we have to repeat everything from zero. Fundraising will be more difficult because of the change of status of UGM from State Owned Legal Entity (Badan Hukum Milik Negara BHMN) to become Public Service Agency (Badan Layanan Umum - BLU). Being BHMN, the faculty are free to control the budget, but after become BLU it will be difficult to ask fund disbursement from UGM due to the equalization of funding for all universities in Indonesia. Therefore, the current AACSB accreditation completion needs special attention. Those are some reasons why AACSB accreditation is very important especially for FEB UGM. Inevitably, AACSB accreditation should be immediately obtained.

Being Unified to Pursue the Accreditation

AACSB-accredited schools are globally recognized as the best business schools in the world as their study programs have passed such high standards for quality. They are better in programs, learning methods, faculty members and facility, and others quality criterias. The graduates have higher overall GPAs and ready to perform works, makes more well-known employers willing to recruit from them. AACSB accreditation differentiates those who achieved it from those at other institutions especially in terms of quality.

The narrative above matches with this quote: AACSB-accredited schools have the
highest quality faculty, relevant and challenging curriculum, and provide educational and career opportunities that are not found at other business schools. (www.aacsb.edu/) Of course all FEB UGM citizens want to obtain the accreditation. Entering the final stages of assessment, an AACSB related updates should continue to be given to all faculty members, especially to the students as the easiest benchmark for quality. The students will not want to support if the information is limited and only scattered among them who are consciously "want to know". Finally, after knowing the importance of the participation of each member of the faculty, let's get unified and support each other to make FEB UGM an AACSB-accredited faculty. A good goal can not be achieved without the support from one element. Just as a house that looks perfect but then lose one of its main pillar, it will not last long and will even destroy each other.