3.1 The school maintains and strategically deploys sufficient participating and supporting faculty who collectively demonstrate significant academic and professional engagement that, in turn, supports high-quality outcomes consistent with the school's mission.
3.2 Faculty are qualified through initial academic or professional preparation and sustain currency and relevancy appropriate to their classification, as follows: Scholarly Academic (SA), Practice Academic (PA), Scholarly Practitioner (SP), or Instructional Practitioner (IP). Otherwise, faculty members are classified as Additional Faculty (A).
3.3 Sufficient professional staff are available to ensure high-quality support for faculty and learners as appropriate.
3.4 The school has well-documented and well-communicated processes to manage, develop, and support faculty and professional staff over the progression of their careers that are consistent with the school's mission, strategies, and expected outcomes.

Definitions
• A participating faculty member actively and deeply engages in the activities of the school in matters beyond direct teaching responsibilities. Normally, the school considers participating faculty members to be ongoing members of the faculty, regardless of whether their appointments are full-time or part-time, whether their positions with the school are considered their principal employment, and whether the school has tenure policies.
• A supporting faculty member does not normally participate in the intellectual or operational life of the school beyond the direct performance of teaching responsibilities.
• Research master's degrees are degrees that focus heavily on research methods and independent research projects as the primary program content.
• Faculty qualifications status refers to one of four categories designated to demonstrate current and relevant intellectual capital or professional engagement in the area of teaching to support the school's mission and related activities. Categories for specifying faculty qualifications are based on both the initial academic preparation or professional experience, and sustained academic and professional engagement within the area of teaching as follows:
− Scholarly Academics (SA) are faculty who have normally attained a terminal degree in a field related to the area of teaching and who sustain currency and relevancy through scholarship and activities related to the field of teaching.

− Practice Academics (PA) are faculty who have normally attained a terminal degree in a field related to the area of teaching and who sustain currency and relevancy through professional engagement, interaction, and activities related to the field of teaching.
− Scholarly Practitioners (SP) are faculty who have normally attained a master's degree related to the field of teaching; have professional experience substantial in duration and responsibility at the time of hire; and who sustain currency and relevancy through scholarship related to their professional background and experience in their field of teaching.
− Instructional Practitioners (IP) are faculty who have normally attained a master's degree related to the field of teaching; have professional experience substantial in duration and responsibility at the time of hire; and who sustain currency and relevancy through continued professional experience and engagement related to their professional background and experience in their field of teaching.
− Additional Faculty (A) are faculty who do not meet the school's criteria for SA, PA, SP, or IP.
• Professional staff include individuals who do not have faculty appointments but provide direct support for ancillary activities. Examples of professional staff include, but are not limited to, career services, student services, admissions, alumni engagement, corporate engagement, instructional support, and other key mission components.

Basis for Judgment
3.1 Faculty Sufficiency
• A school adopts and applies criteria for documenting faculty members as "participating" or "supporting" that are consistent with its mission. Each school should adapt this guidance to its particular situation and mission by developing and implementing criteria that indicate how the school is meeting the spirit and intent of the standard. The criteria should address the activities that are required to attain participating and supporting status and the depth and breadth of activities expected within a typical AACSB accreditation review cycle to maintain participating and supporting status. The criteria should be periodically reviewed and reflect a focus on continuous improvement.
• Normally, participating faculty members will deliver at least 75 percent of the school's teaching globally (i.e., across the entire accredited unit); participating faculty members will deliver at least 60 percent of the teaching within each discipline.
• Disciplines are defined by the school in the context of their mission. Normally, the disciplines should align with the degree programs and/or majors offered by the school. However, not every degree program must have an identified discipline.
• Instructional models such as mass lectures supported by teaching assistants, faculty not in residence but who may travel periodically to the school to deliver a particular program such as a DBA program, faculty shared across institutions, visiting faculty, and online program managers who deliver digital instruction should be clearly identified and documented as to how this method of instructional delivery leads to high-quality learning outcomes and high learner satisfaction.
• In cases where a substantial proportion of a business school's faculty resources hold primary faculty appointments with other institutions, the school must provide documentation of how this faculty model supports mission achievement, overall high quality, and continuous improvement, and how this model is consistent with the spirit and intent of this standard. In particular, the school must show that the faculty model is consistent with achieving the research expectations of the school.
3.2 Faculty Qualifications
• Faculty members can be Scholarly Academic (SA), Practice Academic (PA), Scholarly Practitioner (SP), or Instructional Practitioner (IP). Faculty members should be assigned one of these designations based on the school's criteria for initial qualifications and sustained engagement activities that support currency and relevancy in the teaching field. Faculty whose qualifications do not meet the criteria established by the school for SA, PA, SP, or IP status will be classified as “Additional” Faculty.

• Criteria for SA and PA Status
− For initial classification of SA or PA, a terminal degree related to the field of teaching is appropriate. Note that a faculty member can be considered SA or PA for five years from the date of conferral of the terminal degree. Doctoral students with teaching responsibilities who have attained all-but-dissertation (“ABD”) status will be considered SA for three years from the commencement of ABD status. A variety of terminal degrees may be appropriate where the terminal degree is related to the field of teaching.
▪ Examples of commonly accepted terminal degrees in business include:
• doctoral degrees in business or a closely-related business discipline (PhD or DBA);
• a graduate degree in law (LLM) and/or taxation (MST) for those teaching taxation

• a law degree (LLM, or JD) for those teaching courses or modules related to law or aspects related to the legal environment of business (e.g., ethics, sustainability, etc.).
▪ Additional terminal degrees may also be appropriate for SA status when the degree is closely related to the field of teaching and the faculty member sustains currency through scholarly activities in that field consistent with this standard.
▪ While unusual, a faculty member without a terminal degree may be classified as SA or PA, but the faculty member must clearly be engaged in sustained, substantive academic and/or professional engagement activities to support their currency and relevancy in their field of teaching and their contributions to other mission components; such activity is expected to be consistent with the activities in which the school's other terminally-qualified SA faculty engage. The school will be expected to make its case for SA or PA status in such cases. AACSB expects that there will be only a limited number (normally not to exceed 10 percent of all faculty) of cases in which individuals without terminal degrees also have SA or PA status.
− Subsequent to initial classification, there must be ongoing, sustained, and substantive academic activities (for SA) or professional engagement activities (for PA) supporting qualification status.
• Criteria for IP and SP Status
− For initial classification of IP or SP, a master's degree in a discipline related to the field of teaching, along with significant and substantive professional experience is appropriate. In limited cases, IP or SP status may be appropriate for individuals without master's degrees if the depth, duration, sophistication, and complexity of their professional experience at the time of hiring outweighs their lack of master's degree qualifications. The school will be expected to make its case for IP or SP status in such cases.
− Subsequent to initial classification, there must be ongoing, sustained, and substantive professional engagement activities (for IP) and scholarly activities (for SP) supporting qualification status.
• School Criteria
− Each school should develop appropriate criteria and policies for the classification of faculty, including those faculty who also hold significant administrative appointments (e.g. deans, associate deans, department heads/chairs, or center directors) and according to initial preparation and sustained engagement activities. Criteria for such administrators should consider the weight relative to the individual's administrative role. For example, the criteria may differentiate between a dean with significant administrative responsibilities vs. a department head with a smaller administrative workload. These criteria and policies should cover both initial classification and maintenance of qualified status subsequent to initial classification. Sustained engagement activities, including research and scholarship, should be substantially connected with and in support of the primary teaching responsibilities of the faculty member. Criteria and policies should be consistent with the mission of the school and comparable to peer schools.

• Discipline and Global Ratio Minimums
− Normally, a minimum of 40 percent of a school's faculty resources are SA and 90 percent are SA+PA+SP+IP at the global level (i.e., across the entire accredited unit) and in disciplines defined by the school in alignment with degrees or majors. Schools that emphasize research master's and doctoral degree programs are expected to have higher percentages of SA faculty, maintain a strong focus on SA faculty, and place high emphasis on faculty who undertake scholarly activities to maintain SA status as consistent with their peer institutions and their mission.
− The ratio of SA faculty at the discipline level may be less than the 40 percent minimum if the school makes appointments to drive new, innovative, or interdisciplinary initiatives. In these instances, the burden is on the school to make its case as to how it maintains high-quality outcomes. Peer review judgment and discretion is called upon to determine when such exceptions are appropriate.
− In disciplines where the school does not offer any degree programs or majors, the 40 percent SA ratio is not expected as a norm since those faculty would be supporting other degree programs.
− “Additional” Faculty (A) should not exceed 10 percent of the school's overall faculty or within each discipline.
− In all cases where the school does not align with the faculty sufficiency and qualification guidelines at the discipline (in cases where degree programs or majors are offered) or global level, the school must make its case through demonstration of high-quality, evidence-based programs, student learning outcomes, and evidence of student and/or employer satisfaction as appropriate. The peer review team will consider such departures on a case-by-case basis and employ professional judgment when these guidelines are not met.

• Faculty Deployment
− Table 3-2 is intended to provide a snapshot of how qualified faculty are deployed across degree programs for the entire accredited unit in the most recently completed regular academic year. Because Table 3-2 documents only a portion of the faculty member's contribution to the school's mission—the teaching component—schools are not required to meet the 40 percent and 90 percent ratios used to calculate faculty qualifications in Table 3-1, which includes all activities in which a faculty member engages (i.e., teaching, research, service, other) to contribute to the mission of the school.
− The deployment of the school's blend of SA, PA, SP, and IP faculty members must result from a strategic choice by the school and be consistent with the school's mission and strategic initiatives, and be carried out in a way that promotes high-quality learner success and achievement of learning competencies in all programs, locations, and modalities. While AACSB does not prescribe deployment percentages by program, location, or modality, a peer review team would normally expect a blend of faculty across degree programs, locations, and modalities and take into consideration the level of degree programs offered at other locations and in various modalities, where such distinction is appropriate. Additionally, research master's degrees and doctoral degreeseverywhere should reflect a faculty complement with qualifications consistent with what is needed to provide high-quality experiences and outcomes to these learners. High-quality outcomes can be demonstrated through assurance of learning data provided by degree program.
− Table 3-2 is prepared at a macro-level across all degree programs, locations, and modalities; however, peer review teams may request supplemental breakout of Table 3-2 by a particular location or modality, where appropriate, as determined by the team. It is recognized that blended modalities are becoming increasingly common; therefore, modality in and of itself is often not a necessary breakout. Nevertheless, if the peer review team deems it appropriate to view Table 3-2 by modality, it is within their discretion to request the table for a particular location or by modality.
3.3 Professional Staff Sufficiency
• Sufficient professional staff are maintained to support instructional, technological and learner support needs on an ongoing basis, regardless of whether they are housed in the business school or centralized within a larger, shared unit such as the university.
• Processes for managing and developing professional staff and services are well defined and effective.
3.4 Faculty and Professional Staff Development
• Faculty expectations, evaluation, promotion, and reward processes are systematic, transparent, and support the school's mission.
• A workload allocation model is appropriate for faculty to fulfill all responsibilities competently.
• The school has effective processes for providing orientation, guidance, mentoring, and inclusive developmental practices for faculty and professional staff.
• Sufficient professional development with respect to current and emerging technologies is provided to faculty and professional staff involved in delivery of instruction.
• Teaching assistants, tutors, or other staff who participate in alternative instructional models are appropriately prepared for classroom instruction and are managed and supervised to promote high-quality outcomes.
• Professional staff have access to development opportunities to retain currency in the areas they support.
Suggested Documentation
3.1 and 3.2 Faculty Sufficiency and Faculty Qualifications
• Provide the school's criteria for participating and supporting faculty, as well as SA, PA, SP, and IP faculty. Describe how these criteria align with the school's mission.
• Table 3-1 should be completed for the most recent regular academic year prior to the visit year (often referred to as the “self-study year”), by discipline, to demonstrate alignment with Standard 3. The Interpretive Guidance provides additional information on completing Table 3-1.

• Table 3-2 should be completed for the most recent regular academic year prior to the visit year. The school should also provide a narrative that describes its strategy for deployment of an appropriate blend of qualified faculty across degree programs, locations, and modalities, and how that strategy assures high-quality outcomes.
• The school should include a discussion of any significant changes in faculty composition since the last accreditation review, and strategies and plans for recruiting and deploying qualified faculty within the next accreditation cycle.
• The school must provide information on each faculty member for the peer review team as evidence to support the classification of each faculty member. This information should be provided electronically in the form of academic CVs or equivalent documents, organized in accordance with Table 3-1.
• Provide a narrative describing instructional teaching models, such as lead teachers supported by teaching assistants, tutors, instructors, or other support staff. Describe the qualifications of those who support these instructional models. Provide evidence that describes how such models maintain high-quality outcomes and learner satisfaction.
3.3 Professional Staff Sufficiency
• Describe the professional staff structure with respect to advising, career placement, IT support, faculty instructional support, library support, and faculty research support. Identify which resources are centralized and supported at the university level and which are maintained and supported within the school.
• Describe how the professional staff structure supports high-quality outcomes.
3.4 Faculty and Professional Staff Development
• Describe processes for determining performance expectations for faculty.
• Describe processes for orientation, guidance, and mentoring of faculty and professional staff.
• Describe evaluation, promotion, and reward processes, as well as ways that faculty are engaged in these processes.
• Describe how faculty and professional staff are provided with professional development opportunities to remain current in their field of instruction, and particularly with respect to the use of current and emerging technologies to deliver instruction.