Get a Business Degree: University Teaching Careers Beckon!

The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) offers several good reasons to use your business degree as a university business professor:

• Job security
• Flexible work conditions
• Intellectual stimulation
• Excellent income opportunities
• Increased demand for business school professors

In fact, they argue that the supply for new PhD or Doctor of Business Administration degree-holders is actually less than the number of jobs available because senior faculty members are retiring, more students are seeking business degrees, and many students don't complete their doctoral business program. This shortage has resulted in higher salaries for those who do complete a postgraduate program and use their doctorate business degree as a university business program faculty member.

Acceptable business degrees for university-level business professors are either of these (depending upon where you want to focus your expertise):

• Doctor of Philosophy (PhD): You'll want to concentrate on a PhD if you've always dreamed of teaching, or if you crave the stimulation of the classroom environment and the intellectual interchange of business laws, philosophies and practices.
   
• Doctor of Business Administration (DBA): If you're more inclined to stay behind the scenes to focus on research in a particular business specialty, a DBA will best suit your career goals.

As a postgraduate with a business degree, university life and careers offer many privileges that aren't typically awarded in other industries, says the AACSB. Because these positions generally revolve around a regular school calendar, you'll have summers off to travel—unless you choose to teach in a summer session, conduct research, write books, papers or textbooks. Or you can earn extra income and contribute to the economic good by performing independent consulting work for a corporation, government agency or firm.

As with any college degree, there are several factors to consider when choosing your degree program: 

• Does the school you're considering have faculty who specialize in the area of business you want to teach?
• No matter what specialty you're considering, you should research faculty interest areas before you apply to any school.
• One of the most critical components of any university or college selection—whether traditional school or online degree program—is accreditation.
• Many business schools in the U.S. will hire only doctorates from AACSB-accredited schools when they recruit their business college faculty.