Insurance in the Undergraduate Curriculum

Abstract

Insurance in the Undergraduate Curriculum Introduction This article focuses on the role of insurance in the undergraduate curriculum and advocates the case for revitalizing and enhancing its role in undergraduate business schools.(1) My premise is that individual insurance courses, and a sound undergraduate insurance curriculum constitute one path among many helping students become well-educated people. Existing undergraduate insurance programs need strong endorsement by both the educational and professional communities. Excellent, new undergraduate insurance programs need to be developed. The number of universities offering an undergraduate insurance program was estimated recently to be around 70 institutions (Anderson, 1988, p. 22). However, an estimate of the number of insurance programs leaves many unanswered questions. What constitutes an insurance program? Do the 70 schools reporting a program have a minimum core curriculum? What is the quality of the various programs? What courses are taught and with what frequency? What are the instructor's qualifications?(2) Until these questions are answered definitively, it will not be possible to assess accurately the status of undergraduate insurance education. Disregarding the questions just raised, the number of institutions reportedly offering insurance programs represents only about 10 percent of the member institutions of the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB).(3) Some researchers believe insurance programs are in retreat on a national basis. (See: Wenk, 1985. Cummins, 1987, p. 10.). The undergraduate insurance curriculum's need for a strong advocacy is clear. The status of the undergraduate insurance programs is the result of decades of detrimental policies and pressures, both internal and external. Two major areas of pressure and their impact are described in the next section. Following that, a section re-emphasizes the worth of the undergraduate insurance curriculum in light of proposed curricular goals. The conclusion suggests several practical steps needed to promote the role of insurance courses in business schools. Because so many different parties, including our democratic society, business enterprises, business students, and business schools have a vested interest in perpetuating and enhancing undergraduate insurance education, this study's conclusions take on added significance. The American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) The AACSB is the professional organization and sole accrediting agency for collegiate schools of business and in the United States.(4) such, it sets the guidelines for what is taught, the qualifications of faculty and students, and the levels of research and scholarship in accredited business schools, and in schools seeking accreditation. It is the preeminent power in American business education. The surprising thing is not that just 10 percent of the AACSB members offer an insurance program, but that this percentage is so high 30 years after the widely read, and widely implemented, Pierson and Gordon-Howell reports. Porter and McKibbin do not overstate the case when they note, As anyone who has had any association with university business schools in the last 25 years is well aware, these studies, particularly that of Gordon and Howell, had profound impacts on this sector of the university. (Porter and McKibbin, 1988, p. 8.) Thus, analysis of the status of insurance programs begins with these two works. The Pierson Report Pierson (1959) treated undergraduate insurance education mostly by omission. No mention of insurance courses is made in the recommended curricula for various business majors.(5) (Risk management was not a widely used term when Pierson wrote.) Despite one anecdotal reference, Pierson's conclusions about the value of insurance education were damning by omission. …