I was honored this summer to be a faculty member at one of Bangladesh's distinguished universities, where I had a good chance to see how business education in the country has developed over time. In fact, without drawing much attention to myself, I noticed an interesting phenomenon: some universities are quite proud of their ACBSP accreditation, while others consider AACSB accreditation a more prestigious international recognition. I also noticed the significant effort being made to obtain, maintain, and promote one or the other. This brought about a basic question: What does all this mean for the business education of Bangladesh regarding its quality, scholarship, international reputation, and future? With the aim of initiating a constructive rather than promotional debate on international accreditation, I present this article.

Business education in Bangladesh has expanded dramatically over the past three decades. Public universities, private universities and specialized institutions now produce thousands of graduates in business administration, accounting, finance, marketing, management, human resources, international business and related disciplines every year. Yet numerical expansion has created an increasingly important question: How should the quality of Bangladesh’s business schools be measured against international standards?

This question has prompted many Bangladeshi universities to apply for international accreditation, especially from the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP). This needs to be acknowledged since international accreditation provides an avenue for external review and continuous assessment of the institution. Another pertinent question is whether ACBSP is the right choice as the ultimate benchmark for the top business schools in Bangladesh, or whether the well-endowed and more ambitious schools should strive for AACSB International. One shouldn’t simply make an assessment in terms of labeling one organization “good” and the other one “bad.” Each organization has its own purpose and focus. The risk arises when accreditation serves purely marketing purposes rather than academic reform.

The difference between ACBSP and AACSB needs to be understood clearly. ACBSP does not solely represent an accreditation program for community colleges; rather, it accredits business programs ranging from associate degrees to bachelor’s, master’s, and even doctoral programs in universities. In other words, because of its wide range of criteria, the ACBSP accreditation program becomes highly relevant for education-focused institutions, such as community colleges in the USA. AACSB, by contrast, requires that all institutions applying for business accreditation have at least a baccalaureate degree program in business or a closely related discipline. AACSB accreditation is mainly connected with university business schools. Thus, while both accrediting bodies are relevant to higher education, it is wrong to treat them as interchangeable standards for institutions' missions, focus, and ambitions. This aspect is especially crucial for research universities in Bangladesh.

 

ACBSP: What It Is About

Established in 1988, ACBSP is an international accrediting body that specializes in accreditation of programs in business education. Its accreditation framework is based on the Baldrige Education Criteria for Performance Excellence and focuses on excellence in teaching, student learning, assessment and continuous improvement. ACBSP reviews leadership, strategic planning, stakeholder and student focus, student learning assessment, faculty, curriculum, and institutional performance. This focus is vital for Bangladesh.

One persistent weakness of higher education in developing countries is that universities sometimes focus too much on input buildings, faculty numbers, courses offered, and student enrollment while paying too little attention to measurable learning outcomes. ACBSP moves the discussion toward a more consequential question: What have students actually learned?

Its accreditation model requires business programs to identify learning outcomes, assess achievement, analyze results, and use those findings for continuous improvement. ACBSP describes its approach as student-centered, with particular emphasis on teaching excellence and learning outcomes. (ACBSP). For Bangladesh, this can be transformative.

 

The Positive Impact of ACBSP in Bangladesh

The influence of ACBSP should therefore not be underestimated. Accreditation can force a business school to examine itself systematically rather than relying on reputation, enrollment numbers, or promotional claims. For instance, the listing of North South University on the ACBSP website shows that its School of Business and Economics is accredited and, now, falls under the category of conditionally accredited, with initial accreditation awarded in 2015. ACBSP evaluation materials show that the university performs strongly in areas such as strategic planning, ethics, learning outcomes, and assessment. (ACBSP)

Similarly, in the ACBSP listing for Independent University, Bangladesh, IUB is listed as an accredited institution, with initial accreditation in 2017. Notably, the accreditation process was not only an award but also highlighted opportunities for improvement regarding academic faculty and curriculum. (ACBSP).

That illustrates one of accreditation's greatest potential contributions: external evaluation can reveal institutional weaknesses that internal systems may normalize or overlook.

ACBSP can therefore benefit Bangladesh's business schools in at least five significant ways.

First, it develops an assessment of culture. University courses must demonstrate that they include learning goals that are assessed, not simply stated in course catalogs.

Second, it promotes continuous improvement. Assessment becomes meaningful only when findings are used to redesign courses, curriculum, pedagogy, and administrative processes.

Third, it fosters accountability and development among the faculty members. An international-level business school cannot depend on adjunct faculty forever and claims to be international.

Fourth, accreditation fosters stakeholder involvement. It includes employers, students, alumni, faculty, and industry in assessing curriculum relevance.

Finally, accreditation provides international visibility. For a country seeking to internationalize its higher education, participation in global quality-assurance networks can be valuable.

Thus, ACBSP is certainly not “bad” for Bangladesh. Properly implemented, it can be very good.

The more important question is whether it should represent the destination or a stage in a longer journey.

Enter AACSB: A Different Level of Ambition

AACSB International has a considerably longer history, dating to 1916, and has become one of the most widely recognized global systems of business-school accreditation. Its accredited-school directory currently contains more than 1,090 business schools worldwide. The AACSB recently introduced the 2026 Global Standards for Business Education, which will take effect on July 1, 2026. The new set of standards stresses quality and continuous improvement and connects business education to strategic management, learner success, intellectual contributions, innovation, social impact, and institutional mission. This distinction matters.

While ACBSP has historically developed a particularly strong identity around teaching and student learning, AACSB has traditionally expected business schools to demonstrate a broader ecosystem of academic quality, including faculty intellectual contributions, strategic direction, educational quality, engagement, and impact. This makes AACSB particularly relevant for Bangladesh's most ambitious universities. A business school aspiring merely to deliver competent undergraduate and MBA education may find ACBSP highly appropriate. But a school aspiring to become a research-intensive, internationally influential business school capable of competing for faculty, students, and partnerships with leading global institutions should seriously evaluate AACSB accreditation.

Teaching Excellence Versus Research Excellence Is a False Choice

Bangladesh should nevertheless avoid an unfortunate misconception: that ACBSP means “teaching” while AACSB means “research.” The distinction is more layered.

ACBSP, on its own, incorporates research-based pedagogical practices, scholarship and professionalism, faculty qualification, and continuous improvement into its framework. AACSB, by contrast, does not view research in isolation from the student perspective. The organization connects faculty qualifications, faculty intellectual contribution, faculty teaching, student learning outcomes, and societal contribution in its standards. In fact, AACSB's 2026 standards highlight teaching effectiveness as part of faculty qualification. Therefore, the real distinction is less about “teaching versus research” and more about institutional mission, faculty ecosystem, intellectual contribution, resources, impact and the level at which a business school seeks to compete internationally. Bangladesh needs both excellent teaching and consequential research.

A university that produces hundreds of MBAs but contributes little original knowledge about Bangladesh's banking system, entrepreneurship, ready-made garment industry, supply chains, digital economy, corporate governance, social business, sustainability or emerging technologies has only partially fulfilled the responsibilities of a serious business school. Conversely, a faculty publishing extensively while graduates leave without strong analytical, communication, technological and managerial competencies has also failed. World-class business education requires teaching, scholarship, relevance and impact simultaneously.

The Danger of Accreditation Becoming a Marketing Label

This brings Bangladesh to perhaps the most important issue. International accreditation is valuable only when it changes institutional behavior. If accreditation merely produces a logo for university advertisements, websites, brochures and admission campaigns, its educational value becomes limited. Universities can become obsessed with documentation: committees prepare reports, faculty map learning outcomes, administrators construct matrices, consultants advise accreditation teams and enormous quantities of evidence are assembled. All of this may technically demonstrate compliance.

But accreditation should ultimately answer more fundamental questions.

Are students becoming better critical thinkers?

Can graduates communicate professionally?

Can they analyze complex data?

Do they understand artificial intelligence and digital transformation?

Can they make ethical decisions?

Can they solve actual Bangladeshi business problems?

Are faculty producing knowledge that matters?

Are employers satisfied with graduates?

Are curricula evolving with technological and economic change?

Does business school contribute intellectually to national development?

If the answers remain weak, accreditation alone cannot transform a university into a world-class institution. Accreditation should be evidence of quality; it should never become a substitute for quality.

Why AACSB Could Be the Next Frontier for Bangladesh

Bangladesh has reached a stage in its higher-education development where its strongest business schools should consider setting more ambitious international benchmarks.

AACSB accreditation would be demanding. That is precisely why pursuing it could be valuable.

It would require institutions to think beyond individual programs and examine their broader academic ecosystems: mission, faculty sufficiency, intellectual contributions, strategic investment, learner success, innovation and measurable impact. Moreover, AACSB has also introduced a continuous improvement process in a six-year cycle, in 2026, with starting in July 2026, indicating that accreditation is not a one-time activity. This would have been especially difficult in Bangladeshi institutions because of heavy teaching loads for faculty members, heavy reliance on adjuncts, insufficient research facilities, varying levels of doctoral training, and incentives that focus more on publication numbers than quality. However, such issues make the case even more compelling for setting higher standards.

A Tiered Strategy for Bangladesh

Bangladesh should therefore resist the temptation to frame the issue as ACBSP versus AACSB in absolute terms. A more intelligent national strategy would recognize different pathways.

For emerging business schools seeking to establish systematic quality assurance, outcome assessment, faculty development, and continuous improvement, ACBSP can provide an excellent framework. For established institutions with strong teaching systems seeking international validation of program quality, ACBSP remains a meaningful accreditation. But Bangladesh's leading research-oriented business schools should consider AACSB as a strategic next frontier, particularly if their objective is to compete for global academic partnerships, internationally mobile faculty, high-quality graduate students and stronger research recognition.

The question should therefore not be, “Which accreditation logo can we obtain?”

It should be: “What kind of business school do we want to become?”

Bangladesh Must Develop Its Own Quality Culture

There is another important consideration. Neither ACBSP nor AACSB should replace Bangladesh's responsibility to develop a credible national quality-assurance culture.

International accreditation is supplementary. Bangladesh's universities operate within a distinctive economic, social and institutional environment. Their curricula must address problems that international accreditation agencies cannot define for them. The business schools in Bangladesh must be able to produce research and graduates who can tackle the priorities of the nation, such as export diversification, governance of banks, SMEs, entrepreneurship, social business, remittances, financial inclusion, climate change, supply chain efficiency, use of AI technology, e-commerce, ethics in business, and economic integration. International standards should therefore be localized without being diluted. A Bangladeshi business school should not imitate an American business school. It should become a globally credible Bangladeshi business school, international in standards but national in relevance.

Beyond Accreditation: Ten Measures of a Great Business School

In summary, Bangladesh needs to consider other criteria apart from the accreditation of business schools when evaluating them, including the qualifications of the teaching faculty and their intellectual output; quality and impact of research; effectiveness of instruction; employers’ confidence; employability of graduates; relevance of the curriculum; international linkages; and contributions to society. Neither ACBSP nor AACSB can manufacture these achievements. Accreditation can establish structures and incentives that encourage them. That distinction is critical. A mediocre institution does not become excellent simply because it receives international accreditation. Conversely, an excellent institution should not fear rigorous external evaluation.

The Verdict: Is ACBSP Good or Bad for Bangladesh?

The verdict should be balanced but clear. ACBSP can benefit Bangladesh’s business schools when it serves as a genuine instrument of academic improvement. Its emphasis on teaching quality, learning outcomes, stakeholder engagement, faculty development, and continuous improvement address important dimensions of higher education. However, its comparatively limited emphasis on rigorous scholarship, research productivity, and intellectual contributions represents a significant limitation for research-oriented universities. Its teaching-centered framework may suit community colleges and teaching-focused institutions in the United States, but it may not, by itself, provide a sufficiently rigorous benchmark for universities aspiring to international distinction in both teaching and research. But ACBSP should not necessarily be regarded as the maximum possible international aspiration for every leading Bangladeshi business school.

For institutions of higher learning looking to integrate more deeply into the international community of research-oriented business schools, AACSB is worth taking seriously. It may well take institutional capacity and culture to bring all those elements together. The most progressive approach, therefore, is not to diminish ACBSP but to place accreditation within an institutional ladder of continuous advancement. A university may use ACBSP to transform assessment, teaching and quality assurance. Another institution with mature systems may decide that AACSB better reflects its strategic aspirations. The problem is when either accreditation becomes primarily a branding exercise disconnected from substantive improvement.

From Accreditation to Transformation

Bangladesh's business schools stand at an important crossroads. The country does not simply need more BBA and MBA degrees. It needs graduates who can lead banks responsibly, modernize industries, create companies, manage technological disruption, understand global markets, communicate across cultures, make ethical decisions and generate employment.

It also needs business scholars capable of producing internationally respected knowledge from the experiences of Bangladesh and the wider Global South. ACBSP can contribute significantly to that journey. AACSB can provide an even more demanding destination for institutions prepared to make the necessary investments and structural changes. But neither acronym by itself guarantees excellence.

The objective should therefore move from international accreditation to international competitiveness, from compliance to continuous improvement, and ultimately from recognition to transformation. The strongest business schools in Bangladesh should not ask merely, “Are we internationally accredited?” They should ask a much more difficult question: “If the accreditation logo disappeared from our website tomorrow, would the quality of our faculty, students, research, graduates and societal impact still demonstrate that we are a world-class business school?” That is the standard that ultimately matters. ACBSP is valuable and credible, especially for teaching, learning assessment, and continuous improvement for some selective universities, while AACSB can be a more ambitious strategic target for Bangladesh’s leading research-oriented business schools for some resourceful and already reputed universities. This avoids unfairly characterizing ACBSP as inferior while still making a strong analytical case for Bangladesh to raise its international aspirations.

Conclusion: Different Routes towards the Same Goal

Ultimately, it should not come down to a battle over which is better rather the choice between ACBSP and AACSB depends on factors such as a university's mission, resources, level of institutional development, and academic goals. While ACBSP can be an important way to improve teaching, learning assessment, and accountability for some universities in Bangladesh, AACSB would serve as a more rigorous and relevant standard for well-developed, resourceful, and research-oriented universities with accomplished faculty and higher ambitions.

Hence, Bangladesh does not necessarily require every business school to obtain the same accreditation. The only requirement for any business school is to obtain the standards that help the institution develop further. The fact that ACCBS might not suit some universities because AACSB may be a better fit for research-oriented institutions should not undermine the importance of ACBSP. At the same time, international accreditation should not turn into a competition of logos and prestige.

The issue of accreditation, therefore, needs to remain secondary to excellence as Bangladesh tries to build its business education system to international standards. In my viewpoint, Accreditation is valuable in its power to foster excellence, create knowledge, and develop graduates who can change society, not in any badge it wears.