Prestigious Accreditation Will Make UNB Business School More Attractive To Students
UNB’s Faculty of Management is now a part of a prestigious club that less than 6 per cent of business schools worldwide get to be a part of. The university recently learned that the mission the department began seven years ago was a success: it’s now accredited by The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.
To be accredited, a business school must be seen to achieve the highest educational standards. It’s like a restaurant achieving its first Michelin Star.
“That’s a very nice way of putting it,” says Dr. Devashis Mitra, Dean and Professor of Finance and Entrepreneurship. “It’s considered to be the international gold standard for accreditation of business schools, worldwide. In that respect, they are similar.”
Mitra says they began the process of achieving accreditation from AACSB seven years ago because it would help them attract students and scholars globally. When people look to enroll in a business school, many will consider accreditation to be a main factor.
“They know the top schools in the world have this accreditation,” says Mitra. ‘We were seeing other schools, including many national-level institutions, trying to get accreditation.”
The Dean also notes that accreditation requires the business school to demonstrate assurance of learning. The long accreditation process has helped the faculty put in place a framework that helped UNB improve its curriculum over the years. As a result, Mitra feels the program is better and stronger.
Mitra also gives a lot of credit to the strong, invaluable, research his faculty has completed over the years, for achieving accreditation.
“It helps you to look at yourself, see that you need to improve, and then make the improvements. So, we’ve come out, I believe, in a better place,” says Mitra.
“We have to demonstrate that our students are meeting the objectives, and we have to show that through metrics.”
One of the biggest, and best, changes the faculty made was a new focus on experiential learning. Even when a student enters their first year of the program, they will be able to test their knowledge within the wider business community.
“We decided to completely revamp our curriculum. On top of our traditional courses, we are now requiring students to have project-based experiential learning across all years of the BBA program,” says Mitra.
As an example, the Dean points to how they completely reworked their first-year introductory business course.
“We have now changed that course into something we call business planning and entrepreneurship. This time they learn through working on real projects. They work with our instructors, but also are provided mentorship from the larger community.”
Dominyka Taylor just graduated from the BBA program. Taylor says the experiential learning element has helped them prepare for their careers.
During her time at UNB, Taylor was able to work as an intern for the Government of New Brunswick and a Halifax startup called The Rounds. Taylor talks passionately about her time working remotely for that startup, which provides a digital platform for doctors in the medical field to connect to one another.
“That’s very valuable because, right now, doctors don’t have anything like this,” says Taylor.
Taylor has already been presented with career opportunities thanks to her hands-on education at UNB. She is preparing to move to Toronto because her partner Tyrese Coakley, received a job offer from Microsoft
“My partner landed that Microsoft job because one of the internships UNB was promoting was with Microsoft,” says Taylor.
But it wasn’t just the courses or the internships that have made Taylor confident that she’s ready for a marketing job. Being in the Business program at UNB means having access to clubs and societies. Taylor herself was heavily involved in the Business Administration Undergraduate Society. In her final year, she served as president.
Her years at the club have helped her learn how to manage sponsorships and foster relationships. It has also aided in boosting her confidence when it comes to communication and public speaking.
Then, of course, came the networking benefits of being involved in these clubs.
“I found the clubs and societies were constantly hosting different events, whether it was to socialize or to meet future employers. There were always lots going at UNB,” she says.
“There were so many to choose from that there was no excuse for students to not be involved.”
Taylor also assisted with UNB getting its prestigious accreditation from AACSB. When the AACSB members were examining the University’s educational standards, Taylor and other students gave their insights into the business program.
“I could see that UNB was putting in the work to receive such a title,” she says. “We gave examples of how we witnessed UNB improve the program, with the focus on experiential learning.”
UNB’s Faculty of Management is confident that the accreditation will lead to more students, internationally and also from other Canadian provinces such as Ontario, enrolling in the program. Taylor’s advice is to take advantage of the internships and other hands-on opportunities that will be offered.
“It gave us a larger perspective of what we were learning in the classroom and were able to apply that to the real world,” she says. “It’s one thing to learn the theory, it’s another to put it into practice.”