Triple accreditation

Triple accreditation is the accreditation awarded to 67 business schools worldwide[1] by the three largest and most influential business school accreditation associations:

Triple-accredited schools
European countries with triple-accredited schools
Number of schools with single, double and triple (AACSB-AMBA-EQUIS) accreditation outside North America

Of the 13,670 schools offering business degree programs worldwide,[2] only 67 have triple accreditation as of December 2014. The diagram on the right shows the 55 triple-accredited schools outside of North America as of March 2012. Two triple-accredited schools are based in Canada and a further in Sheffield, UK not included in this diagram, bringing the worldwide total to 58. Recently Bradford University School of Management, UK has been added to this list.[E.g. for AACSB, the diagram interpretation is as follows: 53 schools are accredited only by AACSB; a further 7 are accredited by AACSB and AMBA; another 23 are accredited by AACSB and EQUIS; and 55 are accredited by all three accrediting bodies.]

A major reason for the small number of triple-accredited institutions in the world is the requirement of the Association of MBAs that AMBA-accredited business schools should only admit MBA applicants with at least three years of full-time post-graduation work experience.[3] Some analysts claim that most top US business schools cannot meet this criterion as they sometimes (though rarely) admit applicants with only a bachelor's degree and little or no work experience. They claim that it is why triple-crown accreditation is pursued primarily by European institutions.[4] However, it is not the case when some (former) triple accredited institutes, City University of Hong Kong for example, only require applicants having "relevant work experience is desirable (though not specifically required)".[5]

Differences in accreditation

Each of the three institutions assesses a business school according to different criteria and scope:[6][7][8]

Scope of business school accreditation for AACSB, EQUIS and AMBA
AACSB has the broadest scope, as it accredits management and accounting programs at the entire university (e.g. management programs at the business school and the school of engineering) and grants university-wide accreditation.
AMBA has the most focused scope as it accredits only the business school's portfolios of MBA programs (full-time, part-time, executive, distance-learning), MBM programs (including MSc International Management) and DBA (also known as DMgt in China).
EQUIS's scope ranks in the middle, as it accredits the business school but not the university and not specific portfolios of programs.
AACSB: 2–7 years
AMBA: 9–18 months
EQUIS: 2–3 years
AACSB: full re-accreditation every 5 or 10 years (the 10-year accreditation is being phased out)
AMBA: full re-accreditation every 3 or 5 years (1-year accreditation is a possible outcome of reaccreditation in exceptional circumstances)
EQUIS: full re-accreditation every 3 or 5 years
AACSB's peer review team includes deans and business school administrators.
AMBA's assessment team includes deans, associate deans, program directors and one AMBA representative.
EQUIS's team includes only deans.
AACSB's report reflects compliance with the AACSB standards
AMBA's report includes compliance with criteria, commendations and recommendations
EQUIS's report reflects compliance with the EQUIS standards
AACSB: 77 pages for Business Accreditation; 36 pages for Accounting Accreditation
AMBA: 24 pages (9 pages for MBA; 9 pages for MBM; 6 pages for DBA)
EQUIS: 67 pages
AACSB has more quantitative criteria (checklists)
AMBA has more qualitative criteria
EQUIS is in the middle (between AACSB and AMBA)
AACSB conducts the evaluation against the school's own mission, so AACSB has no internationalization requirement unless internationalization is part of the school's mission.
AMBA has internationalization criteria for research, curriculum and student enrolment. However, these are reviewed in a regional context for less internationalized regions (e.g. Latin America and Russia).
EQUIS has strict requirements on internationalization.
AACSB: prescribed faculty ratios (AQ/PQ ratio)
AMBA: no prescribed faculty-to-students ratio
EQUIS: prescribed minimum numbers of faculty
Feb 2014 Survey Results among MBA applicants, in response to the question: "Which of the following accreditations is/was most important to you when choosing a business school?"
AACSB disapproves of heavy use of visiting faculty.
AMBA allows the visiting faculty model, as long as the visiting faculty are managed by the core faculty (and as long as the quality and course content is monitored).
EQUIS disapproves of heavy use of visiting faculty.
AACSB requires research in line with the mission of the school.
AMBA requires research and publications in international refereed journals or proof of impactful research at national level.
EQUIS requires research with an international dimension.
AACSB: 17,500 USD for initial business accreditation (or 26,800 USD for both business and accounting accreditation). In addition, an annual business accreditation fee is charged: 4,500 USD annually for a 5-year accreditation cycle or 2,500 USD annually for a 10-year accreditation cycle.[9]
AMBA: 22,000 GBP for initial accreditation or 15,000 GBP for re-accreditation.
EQUIS: 38,675 EUR for a 5-year initial accreditation or re-accreditation and 32,725 EUR for a 3-year initial accreditation or re-accreditation.[10]

Schools

There are 66 triple-accredited schools based in 26 countries and territories as of November 2012:[11][12][13]

Argentina

Australia

Belgium

Brazil

Canada

China

Colombia

Denmark

Egypt

Finland

France

Germany

Ireland

Italy

Mexico

The Netherlands

New Zealand

Norway

Peru

Poland

Portugal

South Africa

Spain

Switzerland

UK

Venezuela

Top schools without triple accreditation

Many of the world's top business schools are not triple-accredited, while several schools that appear low in the rankings have triple accreditation.

One reason for this is that some of the top business schools choose not to incur the financial cost of international accreditation and rely only on accreditation by their national accrediting body (usually the country's education ministry).

Another reason is that the top schools in some regions do not meet one or more of the detailed criteria of the accrediting institutions and choose not to amend their policy. Notable examples are all top US business schools: Harvard Business School, Wharton, Stanford GSB, Columbia Business School, Chicago Booth, etc., which do not meet AMBA's mandatory three-year student-work-experience requirement for all MBA applicants.

A third reason is that the 509 schools that have obtained AACSB accreditation in the US and Canada (either via the standard accreditation process or via the granting of accreditation based on their reputation as top schools) do not look outside of North America for further validation, such as through European or British accreditation.

See also

References