Business Schools celebrates EQUIS success

Business Schools celebrates EQUIS success

Nottingham University Business School in the UK, China and Malaysia has secured a prestigious second term as part of a world-leading elite in the field of business education.

The globally-respected European Quality Improvement System — EQUIS — is an accreditation scheme for leading providers of business education, run by the European Foundation for Management Development in Brussels. The scheme was created in 1997 with the aim of raising the standard of management education worldwide.

Only 142 business schools in 39 countries have achieved EQUIS accreditation and Nottingham is the only one to be awarded accreditation for its business schools in three locations.

Nottingham University Business School was first awarded EQUIS accreditation in 2010. The accolade is held for a term of three years and the Business School has just received re-accreditation for a further three years. The School is based at the University’s Jubilee campus in Nottingham, with two further centres at the campuses in China and Malaysia. The School’s MBA programmes have been accredited by the Association of MBAs (AMBA) since 1993, which ensures that all Nottingham MBA programmes meet rigorous quality standards.

EQUIS accreditation covers all programmes offered by an institution from the first degree up to the PhD.

Institutions that are accredited by EQUIS must demonstrate not only high general quality in all dimensions of their activities, but also a high degree of internationalisation. With companies recruiting worldwide, with students choosing to get their education outside their home countries, and with schools building alliances across borders and continents, there is a rapidly growing need for them to be able to identify those institutions in other countries that deliver high quality education in international management.

Accreditation is a rigorous process that includes a three day visit from a peer review team to assess all the School’s programmes, staff, facilities, as well as interviews with alumni and visitors from business and industry.

Nottingham University Business School offers an extensive portfolio of flexible and innovative first degrees and post-graduate qualifications in the field of business, finance and management. It also carries out world-leading research and executive education programmes for people already working in industry.

Dean of Nottingham University Business School, Professor Martin Binks, said: “We are delighted to receive re-accreditation from EQUIS, which uniquely applies to the Business Schools at all Nottingham’s campuses in the UK, Malaysia and China. In order to satisfy the accreditation process the Business School had to demonstrate high quality in all dimensions of its activities, including a strong interface with the world of business, relevant and high quality research and a high degree of internationalisation.

“EQUIS looks for a balance between high academic quality and the professional relevance provided by close interaction with the corporate world, and attaches particular importance to the creation of an effective learning environment that facilitates the development of students’ managerial and entrepreneurial skills, and fosters their sense of global responsibility. It also looks for innovation in all respects, including programme design and pedagogy. The re-accreditation cements our position as one of an elite group of EQUIS accredited schools, and one of the UK’s leading centres for management education.”

The School has also recently gained accreditation from professional bodies for individual programmes, including Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) accreditation for its Finance, Accounting and Management undergraduate programme.