Stakeholder Perceptions of Specialized Accreditation by the Aviation Accreditation Board International: Part One - Collegiate Aviation Administrators

Abstract

The Council on Aviation Accreditation (CAA) was established in 1988 in response to the need for formal, specialized accreditation of aviation academic programs. The first aviation programs were accredited by the CAA in 1992, and as of November 2007, the newly renamed Aviation Accreditation Board International (AABI) recognized a total 78 accredited programs at 26 institutions worldwide. Although the number of aviation academic programs accredited by the AABI has steadily grown, there
are currently only 26 percent of UAA member institutions with AABI accredited programs. In an effort to understand the current status of specialized accreditation in collegiate aviation and the reasons why so few aviation programs are accredited by the AABI, a comprehensive study was undertaken to determine the perceptions held by the following four stakeholders of collegiate aviation regarding specialized accreditation by AABI: administrators of both AABI accredited and non-AABI accredited aviation programs, aviation program students, and aviation industry employers. This article is the first in a series of three reporting the results of this nationwide study. This study utilized a non-experimental, mixed method research design, with quantitative and qualitative attributes. Descriptive research and cross-sectional surveys were tools used to gather data. Data analysis was conducted on both nominal and ordinal data via frequency distributions, content analysis, chi-square, and Mann-Whitney U-test. Recommendations specific to part one of this nationwide study include: (a) The Aviation Accreditation Board International should explore the intrinsic merits of accreditation to truly determine how beneficial AABI accreditation is and the degree to which AABI is fulfilling its original purpose; (b) Administrators of AABI accredited programs with a strong belief in the value of AABI accreditation to collegiate aviation should educate administrators of non-AABI accredited programs about these benefits; and (c) Administrators of non-AABI accredited programs should examine the new outcomes-based AABI criteria to determine if the flexibility inherent in the new criteria are sufficient to enable their programs to pursue AABI accreditation.