INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
academic inquiry part of daily life. The fact that many of our faculty are pracademics, professionals who bring deep industry experience into the academic space, is not a limitation; it is an asset. Their dual perspective grounds the scholarship of application and keeps teaching closely connected to the realities of business practice. In turn, our students’ diversity enriches the questions they ask and the perspectives they bring to their projects, creating a learning environment where academic inquiry and real-world insight continually inform one another. This identity is not about competing with research- intensive universities. It is about showing that institutions of different sizes and missions can claim a space as academic communities with their own culture of inquiry and contribution. For us, CTLS has been the vehicle that makes this identity possible: a hybrid centre that bridges teaching support, faculty development and scholarship – and one that nurtures the pracademic mindset at every level. The lesson from ASM’s experience is that scholarship does not have to be the exclusive territory of large, research-driven universities. It can also thrive in teaching-focused institutions when it is understood as an everyday practice. Faculty who write reflections, share classroom innovations, or publish applied insights are engaging in scholarship. Students who present projects or contribute through structured assignments are likewise making meaningful contributions. Together, these practices create a scholarly culture that feels authentic to our mission: preparing students for careers while also engaging them in habits of inquiry and reflection that will serve them for a lifetime. This has been possible because CTLS was deliberately designed to bring together teaching, learning and scholarship under one roof. Within a teaching-focused institution, a divided approach to teaching and scholarship would have limited the capacity for genuine scholarly growth. For similar institutions around the world, the takeaway is simple but powerful. You do not need to choose between being career-oriented and being academic. By embracing a broad view of scholarship and making it part of the daily fabric of teaching and learning, you can do both. In doing so, you not only raise institutional credibility, but also fulfil the deeper promise of management education to foster lifelong learners who can reflect, adapt and contribute meaningfully in a world of constant change.
Mohsen Rezazadeh is the chair of teaching, learning and scholarship at Acsenda School of Management in Vancouver, Canada. He leads initiatives that strengthen faculty development, curriculum innovation and the scholarship of teaching and learning
“Scholarship does not have to be the exclusive territory of large, research-driven universities”
For students, the connection comes through the Learning Commons, which sits alongside CTLS as its student-facing partner. The Learning Commons offers writing and maths support, peer mentoring and digital library resources, while also serving as a platform for students to showcase work tied to research and inquiry. The result is not just a stronger teaching culture, but also a genuine scholarly one What emerges from this integration of faculty and student scholarship is something larger than the sum of its parts: a distinctive scholarly identity for a management institution that is both career-oriented and academically credible. For too long, private higher education has been framed as offering one or the other. Either institutions lean into industry connections and employability outcomes, or they aspire to traditional academic recognition through research and publications. ASM’s experience shows that professional relevance and scholarly depth can coexist and strengthen one another. By encouraging faculty to see their reflective that feels authentic to who we are. Identity & authenticity practice, applied projects and teaching innovations as scholarship, along with engaging students in parallel scholarly activities throughout their courses, we have begun to build a scholarly culture that makes
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Business Impact • ISSUE 6 • 2025
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