About the IACBE
The IACBE's Value Diamond
How is the IACBE distinctively different in its approach to measuring and advancing academic quality in business and management education? What can the IACBE offer to your academic business unit as you consider accreditation for your business programs?
Various facets of the IACBE’s approach to accreditation provide a unique “diamond-standard” value proposition for the quality assurance of business programs in higher education institutions around the world. This value proposition is central and fundamental to the IACBE’s entire accreditation process, and serves to distinguish the IACBE as the leader in performance- and results-based accreditation for colleges, universities, and other higher education institutions worldwide that focus on student learning and success.
The 4 Facets of the IACBE’s Value Diamond include:
- Outcomes-Based Quality Assurance in a Deming-Porter Framework
- Developmental Accreditation Philosophy Based on the Deming Cycle of Continuous Quality Improvement
- Collaborative and Cooperative Approach to Accreditation
- Flexible and Adaptable Accreditation Process
Outcomes-Based Quality Assurance in a Deming-Porter Framework
The IACBE’s approach to accreditation is based on a W. Edwards Deming-Michael Porter framework for quality assurance. In this approach, the IACBE’s definition of academic quality focuses on the “outputs” of the educational process instead of the “inputs” into the process, i.e., on the overall level of performance of the academic business unit in the context of its mission over the entire range of its activities and operations. The IACBE evaluates academic quality in terms of educational outcomes instead of prescriptive standards relating to resources.
The IACBE’s quality assurance process focuses on the value of academic resources to the institution’s stakeholders in terms of their ability to generate measurable results or outcomes pertaining to both student learning and the operational performance of an academic business unit. In other words, the IACBE’s accreditation process examines whether students learned what they were supposed to have learned, whether the academic business unit is functioning effectively, and whether the academic business unit is accomplishing its mission and goals.
Developmental Accreditation Philosophy Based on the Deming Cycle of Continuous Quality Improvement
The IACBE recognizes and appreciates the fact that no school achieves all of its goals, all of its objectives, and all of its intended outcomes all of the time. In addition, the IACBE believes that there can be a continuum of accomplishment of goals, objectives, and intended outcomes. Therefore, the IACBE implements a developmental accreditation process that emphasizes efforts to improve the overall effectiveness of the academic business unit based on the Deming cycle of continuous quality improvement (CQI).
The growing complexity of the global business environment requires an academic business unit to prepare itself and its students for the future. The quality of an academic business unit’s performance depends on its continuous improvement efforts to meet future challenges. The IACBE’s accreditation process fosters and advances academic quality, and promotes continuous improvement in the overall performance of an academic business unit.
Collaborative and Cooperative Approach to Quality Assurance
The IACBE views its accreditation process as a partnership in which we work together with our members in the pursuit of excellence in business education. In that spirit, the IACBE and its members function in a collaborative and cooperative manner to advance academic quality in business and management education. An important aspect of this partnership is the IACBE’s mentoring program, through which we assist our members with all phases of the accreditation process. The IACBE is your quality improvement partner in a shared journey toward excellence in business education. We are dedicated to helping our members become better at what they do and are committed to “Moving. Forward. Together.”
Flexible and Adaptable Accreditation Process
The IACBE’s mission-driven and outcomes-based accreditation process applies to any economic, educational, cultural, and legal/regulatory environmental setting, and can accommodate a variety of program and organizational structures, and instructional delivery modes. It enables and encourages academic business units to be innovative and diverse in determining how best to structure their programs, operations, and organizational frameworks; to allocate and manage their human and other resources; and to develop and implement policies and procedures to achieve their student learning and operational goals and objectives.
The IACBE’s accreditation process focuses on assuring and advancing academic quality while respecting the academic business unit’s mission, its organizational values, and its prerogative to set priorities and purposes. Consequently, accreditation by the IACBE fosters excellence in business education while enabling an academic business unit to maintain its organizational culture and its organizational identity.
