Significance of Accreditation of Management Institutions

By Dr (Prof) Debjani Banerjee

Currently, in the field of management studies, a "Triple Crown" is considered to be a dream aspiration, i.e. being accredited by AACSB, AMBA & EQUIS. Why it's important and who has it in India. Find out.

The purpose of quality assurance is to ensure and establish an acceptable standard set by some statutory body that is entrusted upon to establish a well-defined process of monitoring, assessing, evaluating and reporting of the established objective based on agreed quality standard.

Quality attainment is a continuous process, and hence the need to be evaluated as per contemporary need. All the policies, measures to attain the set standard, the processes and their action plans need to be monitored and evaluated periodically to assess the set quality parameters. The quality of the institute as a whole and the degrees imparted by it need to be regulated with certain common established and set standards so that it meets the expected need of its clients - students, parents, employer and society at large.

Any institution of higher education would aspire to stand out in the crowd and establish itself as distinguished in fulfilling the confidence of its stakeholders. Thus, the general quality and status of an institute can be estimated from the accreditation status of the institute, university, and the program that it imparts. These accrediting institutions are autonomous statutory bodies, who have set standards to evaluate either the overall quality of the institute or specific programs provided by them. In the process they entail the institutes to set their own evaluation of quality attainment and assesses, based on the set standard, to check whether the institution provides education to meet the basic levels of quality. This collegial process is based on self and peer assessment. The objective is to facilitate the institution towards raising its quality bar and enable improvement of academic quality as well as public accountability.

In our country the technical institutes need to meet these standards being evaluated by National Accreditation and Assessment Council (NAAC), who supervises the Institute as a whole keeping in focus all the major pillars: governance and leadership; academic process, research and consultancy, facilities and infrastructure, placement process, quality and career progression, and extension activities.

National Board of Accreditation evaluates all these parameters with respect to each program imparted by the institute and thus checks the balance between high academic rigor and professional relevance needed by the industry. Thus, ensures application of outcome based learning being well integrated in the programme and its activities as well as processes.

Thus, the accreditation entrusted by these bodies at our national level puts a stamp of approval on graduates qualifying the programmes. It authenticates the attainment of certain attributes expected by the corporate world. The accreditation indicates that graduates would be ready with certain skill sets to be implemented at a certain level as per the desired need. It enables the educational institutes to develop their self-definition and self-reflection, and ensures inclusion of feedback from all stakeholders to make the educational process more robust and holistic in approach. The institutes thus get an opportunity towards continuous improvement, which is an essential part of any quality assurance. Though it speaks of attainment of certain graduate skills but that does not stand as a guarantee of professional success of an individual candidate. It acts as a necessary condition to establish the legitimacy of the attainment of standard.

Currently, in the field of management studies, a "Triple Crown" is considered to be a dream aspiration – being accredited by AACSB, AMBA & EQUIS.

The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) is an American professional organization which was formerly known as The American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business, and was founded as an accrediting body in 1916 by a group of seventeen American universities and colleges. The first accreditation took place in 1919. For many years the association accredited only American business schools, but in the latter part of the twentieth century it advocated a more international approach to business education. Today, many business school across the globe are accredited by this prestigious body.

The Association of MBAs (AMBA) is awarded to the best programmes internationally and denotes the highest standard of achievement in postgraduate business education. Students, business schools, graduates and employers all recognise it as a gold standard. There are large number of MBA qualifications available globally, but only a small percentage can achieve accreditation from AMBA.

The EFMD Quality Improvement System (EQUIS) is a management accreditation system run by the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD). EQUIS accreditation is one of the most comprehensive institutional accreditation system for business and management schools.

In India, only IIM Calcutta has this glorious Triple Crown. They have a procedure of rigorous monitoring of institutional standard so as to assure that the institute meets every parameter of quality and all students graduating with the institute's qualification have attained certain common standard. With this they are able to create a mark of trust among pursuing as well as prospective students, professional societies, licensing bodies, employers and government bodies making the degree seem more legitimate.

About the Author:

Dr (Prof) Debjani Banerjee is the Associate Professor and Associate Dean Accreditation & Member Secretary IQAC at Vivekanand Education Society Institute of Management Studies & Research, Mumbai