Requiring Evidence of Influence of Faculty Research

Interesting article in today's Chronicle of Higher Education: Business-School Accreditor Proposes Requiring Evidence of Influence of Faculty Research, by Katherine Mangan:

Business schools would be required to demonstrate the effect of faculty research on practice, teaching, or theory under a controversial draft plan published on Friday by the schools' primary accreditor. [Report of the AACSB International Impact of Research Task Force ] The accreditor, AACSB International: the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, estimates that accredited business schools spend more than $320-million annually supporting faculty research, and half a billion dollars more supporting research-based doctoral education. But too often they measure research productivity by simply totaling the number of articles that professors publish in peer-reviewed journals, instead of looking at the effect that research might have. ...

The report urges business schools to finance research that advances practice and teaching as well as theory. Schools should be able to demonstrate that the research their faculty members conduct is relevant to the real world of business, and that it is accessibly presented to practitioners. At the same time, it has to be academically rigorous, the report says.

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