Management Science in U.S. AACSB International-Accredited Core Undergraduate Business School Curricula

Abstract

In 2003, accreditation standards were revised to require coverage of management science (MS) after previously removing it in 1991. Meanwhile, increasing awareness of the value of business analytics stimulated a renewed interest in MS. To examine its present status in undergraduate core business curricula, the authors conducted two studies to review quantitative course requirements at top-ranked schools and to survey MS course content. The results indicate limited visibility of MS as a discipline and significant variation in MS topic coverage across institutions. These findings raise serious concerns about the ability of business schools to produce future graduates with the skills needed to support industry adoption of advanced analytics.