Scholarly academic

Initial SA is usually a research doctorate (PhD, DBA) related to the teaching field. AACSB interpretive guidance also treats JD, LLM, MST, and some other terminals as eligible when the teaching match is real. A newly conferred doctorate typically carries SA for five years. After that window, SA is sustained by the school’s written scholarship criteria — peer-reviewed articles and other intellectual contributions the school actually counts.

Faculty who fail both the school’s engagement rules and its teaching-effectiveness rules fall into Additional (A). Additional is supposed to stay small; schools operationalize a 10 percent ceiling because 90 percent must be qualified. SA is an AACSB classification, not a tenure vote. A tenured full professor can be Additional. An adjunct with a current research record can be SA if the school’s criteria say so.

Example: a finance department of 10 FTE has three SA, four PA, two IP, and one Additional. SA is 30 percent. The school offers a finance major, so the 40 percent SA expectation applies in the discipline, not only at the college level. Hiring two more research-active doctorates, or moving a PA back into scholarship, is the CIR math. Reclassifying people on paper without changing CVs is the failure mode.

SA is terminal degree plus ongoing scholarship. Practice academic (PA) is terminal degree plus professional engagement; Standard 3 does not require a PA to publish. Scholarly practitioner (SP) and instructional practitioner (IP) start from substantial professional experience and, normally, a master’s. The 40 percent test is SA only. The 90 percent test is the four qualified classes together.

Class	Typical initial preparation	What sustains it
SA	Terminal degree related to teaching field	Scholarship and related academic engagement
PA	Terminal degree	Professional engagement with practice
SP	Master’s + substantial professional experience	Scholarship tied to that professional expertise
IP	Master’s + substantial professional experience	Professional engagement; not a research load

No. AACSB’s normal rule is 40 percent SA, not 100 percent. A professionally oriented MBA should still field enough SA faculty to support scholarship and degree-level quality, especially in majors the school advertises. The remaining qualified mix is PA, SP, and IP. Additional faculty are the residual, not a strategy.

AQ was the pre-2013 label. The 2013 and 2020 standards split AQ/PQ into four classes. Do not write AQ in an iSER. Peer-review teams read SA, PA, SP, IP, and A. Old faculty handbooks that still say AQ need a rewrite before the visit.

AACSB’s published FAQ on the revised standards says they retain a normal minimum of 40 percent SA and 90 percent SA+PA+SP+IP across the unit, with the same 40 percent SA expectation in degree-granting disciplines. Teaching effectiveness is being added as a qualification criterion on a later implementation schedule. Read the current standards PDF, not a rumor.