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Accreditation is a process designed to promote and sustain quality programs offered by higher education institutions. It is a process that dictates program assessment development of quality standards and assessments to assure learning to produce competitive graduates. Yet many schools’ hospitality administrators view accreditation as something not relevant for program quality.
Hospitality and tourism management programs may be accredited by a body developed in 1989, known as ACPHA (Accrediting Commission for Programs in Hospitality Administration). Many of the hospitality and tourism management programs are housed in schools or colleges of business. The premier accrediting body for business and management programs is AACSB (The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, organized in 1919). Administrators of hospitality and tourism management programs within a business school constantly assess the need and benefits of seeking accreditation by ACPHA if the school or college is seeking or is accredited by AACSB. Some administrators housed in schools or colleges of business or are in separate schools choosing not to go through the accreditation process. They perceive accreditation only for the small schools (less than 100 students). Additionally, many program administrators and faculty just “do not wish to scrutinize” their programs based on ACPHA’s standards or because their programs are already ranked as one of the top ten programs in the United States. It is the authors’ view that while program administrators may not seek accreditation by developing a self-study document using ACPHA and/or AACSB standards, it would signal that programs need changes, given the turbulent and dangerous environment of today.
All hospitality programs need to adapt over time, to changes in their environments/programs and thus must continuously assess curricula, based on standards (Marr, 2006). The assessment will reveal what is needed to develop and sustain quality programs that benefit stakeholders, universities or colleges. The process requires administrators and faculty to develop program missions, goals and objectives and analyze how they will be accomplished and assessed. Additionally, the process guides the development of program goals and learning outcomes associated with each course. Assessment strategies are developed, implemented and of follow-up steps are identified based on the assessments are included. All hospitality and tourism management programs and schools will benefit from the assessment, whether the schools wish to be accredited or not, or whether the schools have 100 or less students or 101 or more students. All schools are held to high standards. This paper will present purposes and similarities of ACPHA and AACSB standards, followed by an analysis of the comparisons. The purposes of accreditation as stated by ACPHA and AACSB are two-fold. One is to assure program quality in management and second, to assist in improving the institution or program. The standards for each accrediting body are similar in nature, but presented under broad categories. ACPHA has seven broad categories with a total of 32 standards. The broad categories are: (1) Mission and Objectives with five standards, (2) Evaluation and Planning with four standards, (3) Administration and Governance with four standards, (4) Curriculum, four standards, (5) Faculty/Instructional Staff, nine standards,(6) Students, six standards, (7) Resources (Physical, Financial Resources and Library Resources), nine standards. AACSB presumes the inclusion of all degree programs delivered by an institution that permit 25 percent of the courses to be business courses. AACSB has three broad categories: (1) Strategic Management, with five standards (2) Participants Standards with ten standards and (3) Assurance of Learning, six standards.
CHART 1 Categories of Accreditation Commissions: ACPHA and AACSB ACPHA Category: 1. Mission and Objectives: five standards focusing on the program mission and objectives and the relationship to the
university’s mission with a process for evaluation.
2. Evaluation and Planning: four standards focusing on program assessments to include graduates feedback. 3. Administration and Governance: three standards focusing on administrative governance. 4. Curriculum: 13 standards focuses on designing courses related to the mission and objectives. Specific characteristics of
courses are suggested.
5. Faculty and Instructional Staff: nine standards focusing on the preparation and qualifications of faculty and staff
teaching in the program. Effective utilization of teaching is required.
6. Student Services and activities: six standards focusing on admission, progression, retention, dismissal and graduation
requirements.
7. Resources: nine standards focusing on physical, financial, library and learning resources needed by the program (ACPHA
Standards).
AACSB Category: 1. Strategic Management Standards: five standards focusing on mission, student support systems for continuous improvement,
financial strategies
2. Participants Standards: ten standards focusing on admission, retention, staff supports, faculty qualifications, sufficiency and responsibilities and student educational responsibilities. 3. Assurance of Learning: six standards focusing on curriculum management. Learning goals undergraduate and graduate level students General knowledge and skills in areas as: Communication abilities Ethical understanding Analytical skills Use of information technology Multicultural and diversity understanding Reflective thinking skills
Learning experiences are needed in specific knowledge and skill areas as: Ethical and legal responsibilities in organizations and society Financial theories, analysis, reporting, and markets Creation of value through the integrated production and distribution of goods, services, and information Group and individual dynamics in organizations (AACSB Standards) CHART II Similarities of Curriculum Topics: ACPHA and AACSB Curriculum Topics: ACPHA Curriculum Topics AACSB
Common Body of Knowledge Learning Experiences
Specific Skills
Common body of knowledge of hospitality administration:
1. Values 2. Skills 3. Attitudes Management of Curriculum: Learning experience in such general knowledge and skill areas: Integrated productivity and distribution of goods, services, and information.
Marketing Communication skills Communication abilities Concepts of problem solving Analytical skills Reflective thinking Operations management Capacity to solve problems Accounting and financial procedures Financial theories, analyses, reporting Economic environment Economic and global Environments Legal and ethical concepts Ethical understanding and reasoning abilities Quantitative methods Statistical data analysis Information Systems Use of information technology Human behavior and organization theory Multicultural and diversity of understanding Group and individual dynamics Areas of specialization Specific knowledge Work Experience Work experience Administrative processes
General education- natural and physical science
Arts and Humanities
What accreditation commission should hospitality and tourism management administrators use to assess program quality? If the program is in the schools’ or colleges’ of business, should the program be excluded or included? The authors’ suggestion is that all hospitality programs should be accredited by one of the two bodies or both, if the college is aspiring or currently has AACSB accreditation. There is no difference in cost. From the information reported in CHART II, it is apparent that while the names of the standards may vary, each is essentially similar and both are seeking program assessment, continuous improvement and competitive graduates. Accreditation should be acquired regardless of national rank, because the process challenges faculty to pursue and continuously guide improvement in the educational process. The process has nothing to do with program size. AACSB International accredits programs with a high number of students (Cornell University, Pennsylvania State University, etc.) and programs with a low number of students (University of Richmond, Virginia State University). Both accrediting bodies review accreditation standards and make changes as needed to improve relevance and currency. ACPHA does not accredit graduate program, whereas AACSB accredits accounting, MBA and Ph.D. programs. AACSB has accredited less than six percent of the world’s business schools. ACPHA has accredited about six percent of the hospitality programs. Both accrediting agencies provide detailed analysis about each standard, along with the processes used to affirm programs.
References Marr, Bernard (2006). Strategic Performance Management: San Francisco: Elsevier Publishing, pp. 19-21. www.aacsb.edu, AACSB Accreditation Standards www.acpha-cahm.edu. ACPHA Standards
Francis Kwansa Cynthia Mayo Clorice Thomas-Haysbert
University of Delaware Delaware State University Delaware State University Kwansa@Udel.edu cmayo@desu.edu chaysbert@desu.edu
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