With an estimated 15,000 business schools worldwide, it is increasingly difficult for prospective students, executives, corporate partners and other public and private stakeholders to recognise a quality institution. A growing number of applicants wish to study and work outside their home country, while research funding bodies reward innovative multi-partner projects, and cross-border double degree programmes are booming. Not to mention the proliferation of online learning which is transcending frontiers as we know them.
An opinion piece by prof. Eric Cornuel, President, EFMD Global
So, in this growing market, how can one identify leading institutions not only in terms of their perceived excellence but also regarding their commitment to continuous improvement and the impact imperative?
Various factors are important when assessing quality in business schools. We might ask how embedded the school is in its particular national higher education context? What is its reputation or position in the rankings? How rich or specialised is the curriculum? Does it have robust career services? And what are the fees and scholarship options? Yet these questions reveal little about the actual quality of the school and the student experience, nor about the school’s long-term viability as a partner, or its potential for international development and growth.
One way to get a fuller picture is to check whether a school is accredited by a global accreditation body and meets internationally agreed quality standards. Why? Because a rigorous accreditation system doesn’t just rely on a few criteria that may vary immensely from year to year, but rather gives a truly comprehensive picture of a school’s offerings, ethos and value for students and partners.
EQUIS, short for EFMD Quality Improvement System, is the leading international quality benchmark and improvement process, launched in 1997 at the Deans and Directors General Conference at Schloss Gracht, now part of the ESMT Berlin. The system was created as a rigorous tool for business schools – first in Europe and now also worldwide – to assess, accredit and improve their quality in ten key areas, benchmarking them against international standards in terms of governance, programmes, students, faculty, research, and foremost, internationalisation, ethics, responsibility and sustainability, as well as corporate engagement.
It offers not only a quality assessment but also a quality improvement process, very much rooted in the mission of EFMD. True quality is about continuing to strive to do better, even when you are already excellent, and this focus on continuous improvement is thus at the heart of the EQUIS mission.
When they undergo the accreditation process, schools receive guidance for future development, helping them stay up to date in a rapidly changing global landscape. Through its core focus on strategy, EQUIS actively encourages schools to consider their unique selling proposition within the planning process.
Another special element of the EQUIS framework of which we are very proud is our respect for diversity. The accreditation system takes into account the great variety of national cultures and educational systems around the world. It recognises that in every assessment process, it is essential to understand the particularities of the local context. EQUIS does not favour one type of institution over another, rather it seeks to analyse what works well or less well in each school’s organisational setup. Over the years, EQUIS has proved to be invaluable in helping schools to address problems in their decision-making structures and processes. We accompany institutions on their path to excellence by providing advice and practical tips tailored to each specific context.
From the start, EQUIS has also focused on building community. Being accredited gives you access to a vibrant network of mutual learning where you can share good practice with business schools representing different higher-education systems.
We must not forget the rigorousness of the process. EQUIS is not a certification but an accreditation process, meaning that if an institution does not evolve at least at the same speed as the market, it may lose its accreditation. We do have a deferral mechanism in place to assist schools which face unforeseen circumstances or difficulties due to external events, but there is no compromise when it comes to the quality benchmark. Holding EQUIS accreditation offers the market a clear and uncompromised sign that we consider a school to be an excellent international institution that wants to grow.
EQUIS is a very holistic assessment system, covering all degree and non-degree programmes within a school, from bachelor to doctoral studies and also executive education where appropriate. Simply put, it allows students to evaluate their prospective learning experiences before embarking on a course of study, while enabling partner institutions to engage with a school which has been thoroughly examined across those various criteria, and which has proven its commitment to continuous improvement and advancing on the quality development ladder.
Each school’s quality and impact are assessed by an experienced peer review team composed of four members who have senior positions in the world of management education or substantial experience in this field, in itself a form of international benchmarking. Successful institutions are awarded EQUIS accreditation by an independent accreditation board. Two distinctive features of EQUIS are that its review team includes a senior practitioner, and that the reviewers also look for on-going improvement following each accreditation or reaccreditation visit.
EQUIS has always sought a balance between high quality academically and professional relevance through close interaction with the corporate world. A robust interface with the world of business is, therefore, as important as strong research potential for EQUIS accreditation.
The process attaches particular importance to the creation of an effective learning environment. Accredited schools prove that they can successfully develop students’ managerial and entrepreneurial skills while fostering their personal growth and sense of global responsibility.
Its ethos of embracing innovation in all respects, including programme design and pedagogy, also differentiates EQUIS from other accreditation systems.
Institutions that are accredited by EQUIS not only have to demonstrate overall high quality in all dimensions of their activities but should also have a high degree of internationalisation. Given the globalised business context where companies recruit worldwide, while students choose to study outside their home countries, and schools seek to build alliances across borders and continents, there is a rapidly growing need for employers to be able to identify any institutions globally that deliver high-quality education in international management.
EFMD is a strong advocate of the social and environmental imperatives that must accompany business practices globally. Therefore, in 2013, we were the first accrediting body to have introduced ethics, responsibility and sustainability as a transversal accreditation assessment area. Business schools need to demonstrate their active global role, embedding responsible management agenda in their policies, operations, teaching and research.
I should also mention that EQUIS is different in that we believe research incorporates a broad spectrum of intellectual endeavour ranging from scholarly publication aimed primarily at the academic community, through publications and activities aimed at organisations and business practitioners, to resources aimed at learners and teachers in universities, schools and companies. What is essential is that each school proves its work to be relevant and impactful within its socio-economic context. EQUIS strives, therefore, for both rigour and relevance of knowledge creation.
Above all, EQUIS seeks to celebrate excellence in diversity, and I’m delighted to see how the EQUIS system and accredited schools have evolved over the past 20 years. There is no one harmonised definition of quality, but there are excellence benchmarks and a striving for perfection in the continuous improvement process. As Della Bradshaw, a former FT Business Education Editor, an authority and influencer in management education, once said: «The gold standard for business school accreditation is a 5-year accreditation from EQUIS.»
