AACSB International (The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) is a non-profit alliance for business education, founded in 1916 by business schools of 16 prestigious universities including Harvard University, Columbia University, Northwestern University, University of Chicago, and Yale University. It is committed to elevating the quality of higher education in business schools through rigorous assessment criteria and standardized management systems.

With a century of development, AACSB has evolved into the oldest and most prestigious accreditation system in global business education. It serves as a vital hallmark of a business school’s attainment of international excellence. Currently, fewer than 5% of business schools worldwide have earned this elite accreditation. Universally recognized for its unparalleled stringency and high standards, AACSB accreditation represents the pinnacle achievement of a business school and stands as a key indicator of world-class business education. The accreditation process consists of key stages: membership application, eligibility review for accreditation, pre-accreditation, initial accreditation, and reaccreditation every six years.

In late 2019, the School of Management applied for AACSB membership and established the School Strategic Development Committee. After multiple rounds of deliberations, the committee revised the school’s vision to “Gather distinguished faculty, cultivate outstanding talents, and become a first-class, internationally renowned school of management”, and its mission to “Root in Chinese practices, innovate management knowledge, nurture industry leaders, and serve social development”. Centering on the revised mission and vision, the school realigned priorities in administrative management, teaching, research, international exchanges, and student affairs, and formulated a five-year strategic development plan. Under the leadership of the school’s administration, guidance from accreditation mentors, and joint efforts of all faculty members, a robust “continuous improvement” course quality assurance system and relevant accreditation mechanisms were established. In November 2021, the school successfully passed the eligibility review(EA) for AACSB accreditation.

Meanwhile, starting from 2021, in accordance with AACSB accreditation requirements, the school gradually launched the construction of the Assurance of Learning (AoL) system—the core and most challenging component of the accreditation process. AoL is a teaching quality assurance system designed and operated around evaluating and improving student learning outcomes, ensuring the continuous enhancement of teaching quality.

In early 2023, in compliance with the nine standards specified in the AACSB Initial Self-Evaluation Report (iSER), the Accreditation Office compiled an approximately 200-page English report. After repeated deliberations and multiple rounds of revisions, the report was officially submitted to the International Accreditation Committee in September 2023. On November 14, the committee notified the school via letter that the iSER had been approved by a collective vote. This milestone marked the school’s successful completion of the pre-accreditation stage—the most critical phase in the AACSB application process—signifying a major periodic breakthrough and laying a solid foundation for obtaining the final accreditation.

In 2024, focusing on the progress of AACSB accreditation and addressing the feedback and recommendations on the iSER, the school conducted problem analysis and continuous improvement initiatives in areas such as strategic planning, the AoL course assurance system, and faculty qualification classification. It completed and passed the first Progress Report. In October 2025, the school passed the second Progress Report and officially entered the preparation phase for the final on-site visit.

Moving forward, the School of Management will continue to benchmark against the standards of top international business schools, emphasizing self-assessment, self-improvement, and sustainable development. It will pursue continuous enhancements in curriculum development, academic research, faculty development, and cooperative exchanges, to expand the domestic and international influence of both the school and the university, and to make thorough preparations for the AACSB on-site visit in October 2026.