Apr 08, 2014 04:20 PM EDT By Jaleesa Baulkman, UniversityHerald Reporter

Drake University in Iowa has decided to give up its business school accreditation for one year, to address a shortfall in academic research, The Des Moines Register reported.

The school's College of Business and Public Administration will withdraw from professional accreditation after failing to meet faculty research standards.

"Rather than being sort of on the edge and potentially losing our accreditation and having it revoked, we chose to be proactive and withdraw temporarily," Charles Edwards, dean of Drake University's College of Business and Public Administration, told The Business Record.

School officials emphasized that the decision has no impact on Drake University's overall accreditation by the Higher Learning Commission.

The decision comes just before student applications to Drake University are due May 1, The Des Moines Register reported.

"The timing is not the best," Edwards said.

In its last review in 2011, Drake University was found to not be in compliance with one of the 21 standards of accreditation: peer academic research, or the number of articles faculty published in peer-reviewed academic journals, The Des Moines Register reported.

The university was given two years to meet the standards.

"But we're still short," Edwards said.

Edwards said the college has focused and will continue to focus on shifting the responsibilities of some professors to allow them to do more research.

"We are going to continue to do the things that we do very well, and our employers expect that. Our students have learned to expect that," Edwards said. "We know our students are graduating from Drake in four years. We know they are getting good jobs."

Drake University's College of Business and Public Administration has 1,100 undergraduate students and 450 graduate students, Edwards told The Des Moines Register.  It has been accredited for 65 years.

Edwards said college plans to reapply in spring 2015 for accreditation to the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.

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