Second Post

Credit where credit's due: MBA Accreditation

To ensure the quality of MBA programmes, a system of accreditation is employed, normally undertaken by an independent outside body. Its function is to ensure that certain standards are being met with regard to the central elements of the course. These include the quality of faculty, teaching skills, teacher/student ratios and facilities.



The system has had its critics in the past on the basis that it measures inputs (such as size of classes or the number of faculty with a PhD), as opposed to outputs (such as the percentage of successful managers produced). As a result, some schools have dismissed such schemes, arguing that the market alone is the only true judge of a business school's qualities.



However, students who take an MBA in one country before going to work in another need to feel confident that their degree is internationally recognised. From the schools' point of view, the increased globalisation of the international business education market, and the subsequent growing trend towards cross-border alliances, mean that they too require some form of quality assurance on prospective partners.



For potential MBA students accreditation provides a reliable list of schools tested for quality. For business schools, accreditation gives international credibility to their MBA provision and an overview of their position against international standards. For the MBA graduate, accreditation gives reassurance of the degrees value at a time when the market risks saturation. For the employer, accreditation guarantees the quality of the MBA. It confirms that to recruit an MBA from an accredited programme is to recruit proven talent.



The European Quality Improvement System(EQUIS) was set up in 1997 to accredit business schools and is a system for which most of the leading European schools have signed up. Many are also looking at the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) International accreditation scheme. This is the principal accrediting agency for bachelors, masters and doctoral programmes in business administration and accounting. It has accredited well over 300 programmes in the US, Canada, Europe and elsewhere.



In June 2002 AACSB International and EQUIS agreed a strategic alliance. Although joint accreditation through the two bodies is not yet a reality, it is certainly a possibility - something that the business schools, which must suffer the lengthy accreditation process, would welcome.