College of Business and College of Management recently are applying for the recognition of The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). Dr. Hu Yi-jen, Dean of College of Business and coordinator of the project, indicated that winning an international recognition is like obtain an acclaimed brand, which will increase the popularity of student recruitment as well as academic reputation.

AACSB is the most prestigious international academic evaluation landmark for business and management fields. Presently, there are more than 500 academic institutes from all over the world being acknowledged by AACSB, including the celebrated Harvard University, USA, London Business School, University of London, and Keio University, Japan. In Taiwan, Sun Yat-sen University, Fu Jen Catholic University, and National Chengchi University have received the AACSB recognition certificates. TKU’s application project was first proposed by former Dean of College of Business, Dr. Chen Ting-kuo. The project has been propelled by Dean Hu Yi-jen since the 2005 school year.

It takes tedious tedious processes to pass the evaluation. The first stage is to join in the membership and pass the qualification survey, during which, ten departments of the two colleges, Office of the Secretariat, Personnel Office, Office of the Comptroller, and related divisions have to fill in English application forms with detailed status descriptions. Department of Transportation Management and Department of Public Administration are approved by TKU President to be exempted from the evaluation for their special characteristics. The second stage is to make self-evaluation report, during which AACSB will dispatch officials to review our campuses and hold forum to discuss on the report. After the forum, AACSB will provide applicants suggestions for improvement. In the third stage, AACSB will interview person to person with President, Vice-Presidents, Dean of Office of the Comptroller, Deans of Colleges, Chairs of departments. The whole process will take three to five years. Three years after attaining the acknowledgement, applicants have to present reports on continuing improvement. Five years after the recognition, the committee will decide whether to authorize a continued acknowledgement.

Dr. Hu Yi-jen pointed out that AACSB puts strict emphasis on the ratio of full-time teachers, which is a crucial weakness of College of Business. Besides, College of Business obtains fewer subsidies than other colleges. If we want to pass the evaluation, we have to first of all upgrade the organization, then all the related offices, colleges, departments, and divisions have to congeal their long-term efforts and cooperate with one another. ( ∼Chen Chi-szu )