Daily News

Elms College Announces Accreditations of Business Programs

CHICOPEE — The MBA program at Elms College has been accredited by the International Assembly for Collegiate Business Education (IACBE). This accreditation also includes a reaccreditation for the college’s undergraduate business program.

“This is exciting because IACBE accreditation not only validates the quality of our business education and our commitment to program excellence, but also enhances the employability of our graduates and offers significant value to their employers,” said Kim Kenney-Rockwal, MBA program director at Elms College.

IACBE accreditation of a higher-education institution is mission-driven and outcome-based, and indicates the business program’s effectiveness. The process of accreditation involves a comprehensive self-study in which the school demonstrates that it meets the IACBE’s evaluation criteria. Following the self-study, an independent team of professional peer reviewers conducts a site visit, and then the IACBE’s board of commissioners reviews the site-visit report and delivers its decision.

Only eight schools in all of Massachusetts are IACBE-accredited. These schools demonstrate “a commitment to continuous improvement, excellence in business education, and advancing academic quality,” according to the IACBE website. “Accreditation means that the academic business unit’s programs are sufficiently strong to be considered as high-quality programs, and that the academic business unit is functioning effectively (e.g., is producing excellent student-learning outcomes).”

Walter Breau, vice president of Academic Affairs at Elms, noted that “our undergraduate business and MBA programs are already recognized in the community as student-centered with a focus on quality, rigor, and ethics. IACBE accreditation of all of our business programs — accounting, management and marketing, sport management, healthcare management and the MBA — reinforces that reputation.

The business programs at Elms College will be eligible for reaccreditation in seven years, Kenney-Rockwal said. “During that time, we will submit interim progress reports on what we are changing and enhancing every couple of years.”