Teaching communication skills in business programs: the role of accrediting agencies and professional organizations in shaping academic standards in the US colleges and universities

The article addresses the issue of academic program standards in the context of a decentralized system of higher education in the USA. The author considers the input of accrediting agencies and professional organizations in defining the scope and content of the programs, in promoting research and implementing innovations in the process of study. The article focuses specifically on the communicative component in the business programs of US universities and colleges. The existence of unified national, and to date the international standards, allows to ensure a consistently education high quality, and the comparability of educational programs provides great opportunities for mobility of students and university graduates. On the other hand, the greater freedom and autonomy of universities in shaping the structure and content of educational programs allows to universities to respond more dynamically changing labor market demands, innovate both in the content of programs and in teaching methods, and as a result, be more competitive. Considering that ultimately it is the teaching staff of the university headed by the heads of the departments and deans that forms the educational programs operating within the framework of this institution, it is obvious that the unity of the requirements for the content, conditions of implementation and the results of the development of these programs on a national scale can be achieved exclusively by joint efforts of professors of universities and colleges. This role is assigned to the professional organizations.