Senate Bill No.: 0708-22
UNIVERSITY AT ALBANY
STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK
Introduced by: Undergraduate Academic Council
Date:
April 24, 2008
REVISION OF ADMISSION AND RETENTION CRITERIA TO THE SCHOOL
OF BUSINESS MAJOR
IT IS HEREBY PROPOSED THAT THE FOLLOWING BE ADOPTED:
1. That the attached proposed revision of the admission and retention criteria to the
Business Administration and Accounting majors in the School of
Business be approved by the University Senate.
2. That this proposal be forwarded to the Interim President George M. Philip for
approval.
3. That the revision take effect for students admitted to the
University for Fall 2008.
Rationale:
Proposed Changes in Admissions Criteria
The School of Business proposes to modify the change in admissions
standards approved last year. The proposed changes for University at
Albany students are an increase from 3.10 to 3.25 in the overall GPA
and an increase from 2.85 to 3.0 in the GPA in designated admission
core courses required for admission. Similar changes are proposed
for transfer students. The exact wording of the proposed changes in
policy is provided in Appendix A.
Minimum Enrollment Level
The School’s proposal to modify its admissions standards also includes
a commitment to maintain undergraduate enrollments at its target of
850 upper division students. If the number of students admitted to
the School using approved admissions criteria results in upper
division enrollments of less than 850, the School will admit additional
students from an admissions waiting list. This commitment insures
that the School of Business meets its obligations to the campus
financial plan, which assumes enrollments of 850 upper division
students.
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Senate Bill No.: 0708-22
Students not admitted to the School of Business using approved
admissions criteria (including the completion of at least five of the
designated admissions core courses) will be placed on an admissions
waiting list; the waiting list will order students in descending order
by composite GPA (CGPA). Composite GPA is calculated as the
average of cumulative and core course GPAs. For example, a student
with a cumulative GPA of 3.24 and a GPA in the designated admissions
core courses of 2.96 would have a CGPA of 3.10.
Precedence for These Changes
The faculty of the School of Business supports the concept of open
access to all academic programs at the University at Albany. The
School’s faculty and professional staff also believe that it is their
obligation to provide the best possible educational experience to its
students. Unfortunately, the situation in the School of Business is
such that these two principles cannot be attained simultaneously;
demand for accounting and business education is so great that the
quality of the educational experience is diminished for all students.
Restricting admissions to academic programs has occurred in the
School of Business and other academic programs at UAlbany (e.g.,
School of Criminal Justice, departmental honors programs) for many
years. Such restrictions are allowed under existing University
policies. The University Undergraduate Policy Manual states that
caps or restrictions on access to a major may be based on one or more
of the following factors: program quality (quality threatened due to
instructional resource limitations), prerequisites, or quantitative
considerations. Our proposal to modify admissions standards is
based on considerations of program quality and maintenance of
accreditation, a factor likely not contemplated when the criteria in the
Undergraduate Policy Manual were established.
Excessively High Student-Faculty Ratio (Instructional Resource
Limitations)
The ratio of students to faculty members in the School of Business is
approximately 50% higher than the average for all academic units at
UAlbany. The imbalance between the number of students in the
School and the number of tenure-line faculty members was cited by
the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)
accreditation review teams in January 2006 as one factor in their
recommendations to continue the School’s review for one additional
year. To address this issue, the School submitted, and the University
vice provost for enrollment management accepted in March 2006, a
comprehensive enrollment management plan that maintained
undergraduate enrollments at 850; the plan also reduced graduate
enrollments over the five-year period 2006-07 to 2010-11. The
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approved enrollment level of 850 undergraduate students has been
the School’s target for many years and this enrollment level is built
into the current campus financial plan.
Student-Faculty Ratios
Fall
2003
Fall
2004
Fall
2005
Fall
2006
Fall
2006
School of Business
27.8
28.5
28.3
30.1
29.7
College of Arts & Sciences
22.0
22.8
20.3
20.2
21.1
Campus Average
20.5
21.0
19.0
17.7
19.1
Rockefeller College
16.3
18.3
16.0
14.1
17.0
CCI
NA
NA
NA
10.0
16.8
School of Education
14.4
15.7
13.9
10.6
14.1
School of Social Welfare
14.7
15.3
14.5
11.5
12.5
School of Public Health
16.9
14.8
12.2
8.0
12.4
School of Criminal Justice
16.1
15.8
14.2
10.3
12.2
CNSE
NA
1.3
3.7
1.4
3.8
When fall 2006 undergraduate enrollments in the School of Business
increased to 992, it became apparent that admissions standards
needed to be increased if the target of 850 students was to be
achieved. The School’s faculty approved a proposal to:
1. Raise the admissions standards to an overall GPA of 3.1 (from
3.0) and a GPA of 2.85 (from 2.7) in the business core courses.
2. Require transfer students to complete at least four courses
designated as “business core courses” before admission to the
School of Business is granted.
The University at Albany Senate and the President approved the new
admissions standards and they became effective for new students
entering the University in fall 2007.
School of Business Undergraduate Enrollments
Fall 2002 to Fall 2007
Fall
2002
Fall
2003
Fall
2004
Fall
2005
Fall
2006
Fall
2007
Actual
851
871
899
921
992
1,009
Target
850
850
850
850
850
850
Actual -
Target
1
21
49
71
142
159
Enrollments for fall 2007 increased again; the new admissions
standards dampened the number of transfer students admitted to the
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School of Business, but the (old) admissions threshold for UAlbany
lower division students is obviously much too low. The impact on
admissions of the new standards will be modest (30 to 35 students per
year) and the impact will not be sufficient to reduce total enrollments
to the target level of 850 students. Compounding the problem is entry
of the first class of directly admitted freshmen (70 students) in fall
2008. Therefore, another increase in admissions standards is
necessary.
Impact on the Quality of Instruction, Advisement, and Career
Services
The high enrollment levels in the School of Business have an adverse
impact on our ability to provide high quality advisement services; the
School is hiring (at its expense) another full-time academic advisor to
help meet the crushing advisement load. High enrollments also limit
our ability to provide career and professional development services,
mentors, internships, and placement opportunities for our students.
In addition, average class size is much too high; the average size of
the 17 sections of entry-level courses (BLAW220, BACC211, BITM215,
BFIN300, BMKT310, BMGT341) is 224; the average size of 300-level
courses (excluding entry-level courses) is 60; and the average size of
400-level courses is 30. In some courses, enrollments exceed the
number of seats available and students sit on the floor. These class
sizes are not consistent with the high quality education offered by the
School over the past three decades and the quality education that
current students, parents, alumni, and employers expect.
Impact on Accreditation
While the adverse impact on education quality is serious, it is the
potential loss of the School’s accreditation in accounting and business
that concerns me most. The School of Business has dual Association
to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) accreditations in
accounting and business.
The School had maintenance of
accreditation site visits in January 2006 and accreditations in
accounting and business were reaffirmed in 2007. The next formal
maintenance of accreditation review will be during the 2010-11
academic year and the School must file the initial paperwork for that
review in the fall of 2008.
Even though the School’s accreditations were recently reaffirmed, it is
substantial out-of-compliance with one of the most important
accreditation metrics: the proportion of academically qualified faculty
members. AACSB categorizes each faculty member as participating
or supporting and as academically qualified (AQ), professionally
qualified (PQ), or other (i.e., not academically or professionally
qualified). AACSB offers the following general descriptions (these
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definitions are taken from Eligibility Procedures and Accreditation
Standards for Business Accreditation as revised):
A participating faculty member actively engages in the
activities of the school in matters beyond direct teaching
responsibilities. Such matters might include policy
decisions, educational directions, advising, research, and
service commitments. A supporting faculty member does
not, as a rule, participate in the intellectual or operational
life of the school beyond the direct performance of
teaching responsibilities. Usually, a supporting faculty
member does not have deliberative or involvement rights
on faculty issues, have membership on faculty committees,
nor is the individual assigned responsibilities beyond
direct teaching functions (i.e., classroom and office hours).
Academic qualification requires a combination of original
academic preparation (degree completion) augmented by
subsequent activities that maintain or establish
preparation for current teaching responsibilities. Both
relevant academic preparation and relevant professional
experience will be required to establish a faculty member
as
professionally qualified. Normally, the academic
preparation should consist of a master’s degree in a field
related to the area of teaching assignment. Normally, the
professional experience should be relevant to the faculty
member's teaching assignment, significant in duration and
level of responsibility, and current at the time of hiring.
The School of Business faculty adopted a standard of three articles
published in good quality peer-reviewed journals over the preceding
five years to achieve academically qualified status. The School’s
faculty approved the following standard to achieve professionally
qualified status: (A) a professional license or certification (e.g., CPA,
CMA, CFA) relevant to the courses being taught and five years of
relevant non-academic managerial or/and technical experience: or (B)
a masters or doctorial degree and five years of relevant non-academic
managerial or/and technical experience.
AACSB requires that participating faculty members must deliver at
least 75% of instruction School-wide and at least 60% in each
functional area. The School of Business uses student credit hours
(SCHs) in its calculations of participating faculty coverage. For fall
2007, 86% of SCHs were delivered by participating instructors.
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AASCB requires that at least 90% of faculty resources (“resources” is
AACSB’s term for persons) are either AQ or PQ with at least 50% AQ
for schools with undergraduate programs only; the standard is
expected to be higher for schools with graduate programs and for
schools with a heavy emphasis on discipline-based scholarship. The
School of Business has a standard of 75% AQ. For the fall 2007
semester, the proportion of AQ faculty was only 51%. To see why the
School is well below the minimum acceptable level, we need to look at
the combined effects of enrollments and the composition of our
instructional team.
As detailed above, enrollments in the School of Business are well
above agreed upon target levels while the School’s instructional team
contains far too few tenure-line faculty members. For the fall 2007
semester, the School of Business had 54 FTE instructors, which
represented 81 individuals. [AACSB requires the inclusion in faculty
resource totals of faculty members on leave; the number of tenure-line
faculty members includes two faculty members who are on sabbatical
leave this year.] Only 35 of these positions were tenure-line (i.e.,
positions held by tenured faculty members or those with tenure-track
appointments). The School employed 10.34 FTE lecturers (11
individuals) with term appointments of one year or more. In order to
staff all of its courses for fall 2007, the School hired 31 adjuncts (8.53
FTE positions). Four members of the School’s professional staff also
provided instruction. As the data in the table below show, for fall
2007, our 33 tenure-line faculty members taught 68 course sections or
46% of all sections offered. Conversely, non-tenure-line faculty
members taught more than one-half of all course sections.
With 54 FTE instructors, 41 FTE instructors must be AQ to meet the
minimum accreditation standard of 75%. But the School only has 35
tenure-line positions, so even if all tenure-line faculty members are
academically qualified (an extremely challenging goal), the School
would be significantly below the minimum threshold for maintaining
its accreditation. Lecturers and adjuncts are, in virtually all
instances, professionally qualified, and there are no research
expectations connected with their employment (i.e., we do not expect
them to be academically qualified).
Category of
Instructor
Number of
Sections
FTE
Positions
Number of
Individuals
Adjunct
40
8.53
31
Lecturer
29
10.34
11
Tenure-line
68
35.00
35
Staff
12
0.08
4
149
53.95
81
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As enrollments have increased in the School of Business, we have had
to hire additional adjuncts to meet our instructional needs.
Unfortunately, every additional adjunct pushes the School further
from its minimum accreditation standards. The School added three
new faculty positions last year and another new position will be filled
this year. However, the anticipated level of 36 tenure-line positions
for fall 2008 is well below the 50+ tenure-line positions that existed in
the 1980s and it is well short of the level needed to meet minimum
accreditation standards at current enrollment levels.
Classification
FTE Positions
Percent
Academically
Qualified
27.67
51.3
Professionally
Qualified
14.78
27.4
Other
11.50
21.3
Total
53.95
100.0
Reducing enrollments to the agreed upon target levels will reduce the
number of adjuncts teaching in the School and it will, ceteris paribus,
increase our academically qualified metric. We know, however, that
reduced enrollments alone will not allow the School to meet the
minimum standard at least 75% of its faculty resource having
academically qualified status - - but it is an essential component of the
plan to retain AACSB accreditation. Additional tenure-line positions
must be added to the School of Business. A five-year faculty
management plan to fund the replacement of retiring faculty members
and add new tenure-line positions to the School has been submitted to
Interim President George Philip. In addition, the faculty of the School
of Business is committed to achieving the goal of having all tenure-
line faculty members meet appropriate qualification standards.
Conclusion
Reducing enrollments to the agreed upon levels is essential if the
School of Business is to provide the same high quality educational
experience that it has provided for the past three decades and if the
School is to maintain its AACSB accreditation. Unfortunately, there is
no way to accomplish this objective without raising admissions
standards.
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Senate Bill No.: 0708-22
Appendix A
Proposed Changes in Undergraduate Bulletin
The current text in the bulletin (2007-2008) states the following for
the students admitted as freshmen to the university:
“To remain a School of Business major during the
freshman and sophomore years, each student must meet
the retention standards set by the School of Business.
These standards require students to maintain a 3.10
overall average at the University at Albany and at least a
2.85 average for the designated admission core course
categories taken at Albany.
To remain a School of Business major, students must
also have satisfactorily completed any five of the seven
admission core course categories after three semesters
at the University, and all seven (7) of the admission
core course categories after four (4) semesters at the
University. (Note: all core course categories not
completed prior to matriculation must be taken at the
University and graded on an A–E basis.) These
categories are: (1) B Acc 211, (2) B Itm 215, (3) A Mat
108 or B Itm 220 or A Eco 320; (4) A Eco 110, (5) A Eco
111, (6) A Psy 101, and (7) A Soc 115Z or 115 or A Ant
108Z or 108. In addition, students must have completed
a total of at least 56 degree applicable credits after
four semesters at the University to remain a School of
Business major.
Students’ records will be evaluated after their second
semester, and those falling below the retention standards
will receive a warning letter indicating they are in
jeopardy of losing their status as a School of Business
major. Students’ records will again be evaluated after
their third and fourth semester to determine that all of
the above retention standards have been met.
Students in the School of Business who have attained
junior standing (i.e., 56 degree applicable credits) and
who have met all the retention standards shall be eligible
to enroll in the upper division School of Business
courses.”
In the first paragraph above, we are proposing the following change
in retention policy:
Senate Bill No.: 0708-22
To remain a School of Business major during the freshman
and sophomore years, each student must meet the retention
standards set by the School of Business. These standards
require students to maintain a 3.25 overall average at the
University at Albany and at least a 3.00 average for the
designated admission core course categories taken at Albany.
Additionally, in the section of the bulletin regarding transfer
students, the following is stated:
“Initial Admission of Transfers with Sophomore Standing
or Above to the School of Business:
All students admitted to the University for Summer 2007
or thereafter whose basis of admission is “TRANSFER”
can be admitted to the School of Business by declaring
their major as either Accounting or Business
Administration at the time of their application to the
University as long as they will have met the following
criteria:
Students must have completed a total of at least 32
degree applicable credits by the end of the spring
semester preceding their summer or fall admission to the
University, or by the end of the fall semester preceding
their spring admission to the University. They must also
have a final cumulative average of 3.10 or higher and
have maintained at least a 2.85 average in any
designated core course categories completed elsewhere
prior to matriculation.
To remain a School of Business major, each student must
meet the retention standards set by the School of
Business. These standards require students to maintain a
3.10 overall average at the University at Albany and at
least a 2.85 average for the designated admission core
course categories taken at Albany.
To remain a School of Business major, students must also
have satisfactorily completed all seven of the admission
core course categories after two semesters at the
University. These categories are: (1) B Acc 211, (2) B Itm
215, (3) A Mat 108 or B Itm 220 or A Eco 320; (4) A Eco
110, (5) A Eco 111, (6) A Psy 101, and (7) A Soc 115Z or
115 or A Ant 108Z or 108. (Note: all core course
categories not completed prior to matriculation must be
taken at the University and graded on an A–E basis.)
Senate Bill No.: 0708-22
They must also have achieved 56 degree applicable
degree credits after two semesters at the University.
Students in the School of Business who have attained
junior standing (i.e., 56 degree applicable credits) and
who have met all the retention standards shall be eligible
to enroll in the upper division School of Business
courses.”
We are proposing the following policy changes:
Students must have completed a total of at least 32 degree
applicable credits by the end of the spring semester preceding
their summer or fall admission to the University, or by the end
of the fall semester preceding their spring admission to the
University. They must also have a final cumulative average of
3.25 or higher and completed at least 4 of the designated
admission core courses with at least a 3.00 average elsewhere
prior to matriculation.
To remain a School of Business major, each student must meet
the retention standards set by the School of Business. These
standards require students to maintain a 3.25 overall average
at the University at Albany and at least a 3.00 average for the
designated admission core course categories taken at Albany.
