Let’s get down to business.

That’s exactly what Oakland University’s School of Business Administration has done. For 20 years the school has held dual accreditation for its business and accounting programs from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business – International (AACSB).

The AACSB was established in 1916 as a place for business schools to network and discuss business education. Today, it evaluates business schools in order to ensure students receive a high quality education, according to the AACSB’s website.

“It’s a red feather in our hat,” Dean of the School of Business Administration Dr. Michael Mazzeo said.

The business school is one of 178 business schools that is dual accredited, out of the 13,000 business schools worldwide.

Mazzeo said the accreditation is something business students should be aware of.

“As a student, you want to make sure certain levels are being achieved,” Mazzeo said.

Upholding quality and a promise to the students is key in maintaining such a prestigious accreditation, according to Mazzeo.

Mazzeo says the association evaluates faculty members and their quality based on experience in their respective fields, whether they have doctorate degrees and other factors.

Mazzeo says the accreditation is good for five years. When that time is up an accreditation board from the AACSB comes for two-and-a-half days to review the school and the programs.

“They drill us,” Mazzeo said. “They hold us to what we say we are.”

Members of the board talk to everyone, including students that are pulled out of classes to discuss their experiences, according to Mazzeo.

Mazzeo says very detailed reports are created and presented to the board by the school of business.

“This is what we are doing and ask what we should do,” Mazzeo said.

Mazzeo says that the school focuses on an “assurance of learning,” making sure students engage in ethical and critical thinking and know the skills needed to function in their future careers.

The school is currently reviewing several programs, according to Mazzeo. He says they are always revising and participating in strategic planning.

“We have to constantly, in a way, reinvent ourselves,” Mazzeo said.

Senior and accounting major Zorica Kaurin is very pleased with her experience so far in her program and with the School of Business Administration.

“I think everything that I’m learning is really beneficial,” Kaurin wrote via email.

Kaurin says she is impressed with how the school is set up and how it helped her choose a major.

“I really like how the business school is designed,” Kaurin wrote. “You get to experience all the different majors the business school has to offer.”

Kaurin says she thinks her major in accounting has definitely prepared her for a job within her field.

“You not only learn concepts, buy you also learn how to behave professionally and how to solve problems on your own,” Kaurin wrote.

Kaurin says she currently works at an internship at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Detroit, a multinational firm that “focuses on audit and assurance, tax and consulting services,” according to the firm’s website.

Kaurin says this is the firm’s busy season and she has been working 60 hours a week auditing company’s financial statements. She has already been offered a full-time job at the firm after she graduates.

Kaurin says in order to be successful you should keep your grades up, get involved in organizations, and also get your name out to professionals in the field.

“Go to all the career fairs and get your name out there so recruiters know who you are,” Kaurin wrote.