After finishing its five-year maintenance report in 2014, the McDonough School of Business will tweak its mission statement and practices to meet new accreditation standards, which emphasize global commerce as a component of business education.

The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International, which accredits MSB every five years, implemented the changes April 8 after over two years of research, having last updated its standards in 2012.

“What we’re really asking business schools to do is to expand their mission statements to better differentiate a business school from other schools and focus on their distinctive abilities and programs,” said Robert Reid, executive vice president and chief accreditation officer ofAASCB.

The MSB was given the opportunity to either implement the changes immediately or delay them after the five-year report was complete. School administrators chose the latter option to ensure continuity in the report and will wait to evaluate any changes to the MSB until after its completion.

“We will begin working with the new standards after the 2014 review process,” MSB Deputy Dean Pietra Rivoliwrote in an email.

The accreditation changes are primarily directed at international business schools and include broadening a school’s mission statement to focus on academic impact, increasing engagement among faculty, students and business professionals and ensuring that intellectual contributions consist of business management theory and teaching.

“In this context of constant change, the new accreditation standards will not only validate quality management education and impactful research, but also help business schools provide the leadership, skills and knowledge necessary to the communities they serve,” AACSB Blue Ribbon Committee on Accreditation Quality Chair Richard Sorensen wrote in a press release April 9.

According to Sorensen, the new guidelines will provide business schools increased flexibility in defining their own mission statements and in meeting the unique needs of their students and faculty.

“The new environment calls for schools to focus on their distinctive mission and value proposition,” Sorensen wrote. “Students, employers and society as a whole expect a great deal from business schools — especially when it comes to addressing the most challenging issues of the world.”

Moreover, the AACSB changes are designed to reflect the increasingly global nature of business education, including the proliferation of online business courses.

“There is a growing business case among both students and employers for online learning, experiential learning and for making an impact,” Rivoli wrote. “The new standards take into account the diverse ways in which business schools from cultures around the world achieve their goals.”

The changes will also place increased emphasis on faculty members with real world experiences, as opposed to merely business education.

Marketing professor Marlene Towns said that she believed it was important for business school professors to have experience outside the classroom.

“I definitely feel like having real-world experience adds a certain richness to our classroom discussion,” Towns said. “Georgetown has always had a great balance of both theory and practice — many of my colleagues have worked in consulting or as entrepreneurs.”

Bharat Kaku, a visiting associate professor in the MSB, agreed but cautioned that experience and research are equally important aspects in a good business professor.

“I guess there are some advantages in that these people could talk about their experiences,” Kakusaid. “On the other hand, they might not be as up to date on current research.”

Nevertheless, Rivoli said that she did not see a dramatic difference between the new standards and old ones.

“The new standards provide additional flexibility to address changes that have happened in the field of business education over the last decade,” Rivoli wrote. “They now want to see how business education impacts society and how it can create innovation in business practices.”

Overall, Rivoli stressed the importance of the five-year accreditation cycle.

“Whether using the old or the new standards, we feel that the five-year accreditation maintenance process is valuable to the school,” Rivoli wrote. “It is important to step back and evaluate ourselves — and seek external input — to see if we are meeting and exceeding our teaching and learning goals.”