MBA students want globally recognised degrees

Should business education technocrats in London, Brussels and Florida be dictating standards to business schools in Africa? Opponents of international accreditation agencies say they impose Western standards on the rest of the world.

Supporters say they improve the quality of business education by forcing schools to raise their game.

Whatever people’s views, there’s no denying that in SA there is a growing desire among business schools for international endorsement of what they do.

There are three main accreditation bodies: the London-based Association of MBAs (Amba); the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD), in Brussels; and the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), which operates out of Tampa, Florida, in the US.

Amba limits itself to MBA programmes. The other two measure schools’ overall activities. The EFMD’s accreditation is known as Equis, or EFMD Quality Improvement System.

A fourth body, the Central & East European Management Development Association, based in Slovenia, has SA members but is generally considered a stepping stone to accreditation with the other agencies.

The Association of African Business Schools (AABS), a pan-African body to which most SA schools belong, plans to introduce its own accreditation.

Of the major bodies, the first port of call is usually Amba because it is simpler to meet global standards for one programme than for the whole body of work. More than half of SA’s schools already have their MBA programmes approved by Amba or will soon (see table).

SA programmes are already accredited by the local Council on Higher Education, but in a globalised world, many students want internationally recognised qualifications.

The Amba process is demanding. Schools must be financially viable and committed to quality improvement. School leadership, research, teaching and programme design are all subject to microscopic investigation. So are learning outcomes, assessment standards and the student experience.

These are not lip-service criteria, says Milpark Business School dean Cobus Oosthuizen, whose institution is waiting to hear if its accreditation application has succeeded. "They drill down to granular level," he says. "It’s not enough to say you do something. You have to explain how and why. And then you have to provide proof."

Rhodes Business School director Owen Skae says: "Going through Amba accreditation was a stressful process. You can’t pretend you are doing something. The Amba people have seen it all before. You have to be transparent."

Equis and the AACSB are equally exacting, albeit with different priorities, including school strategy, governance, programmes, student admission standards, student and faculty support, research & development, sustainability, corporate connections and international perspective.

University of Stellenbosch Business School dean Piet Naudé, whose school is one of three in SA — with Henley and the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business (GSB) — accredited by all three bodies, says the benefits of opening up to outside review are worth the stress and hundreds of thousands of rands required to succeed.

Besides being able to prove the effectiveness of the school’s education, accreditation has forced it to address the faculty balance so students are exposed to lecturers strong both in academic research and business practice. Schools must also consider their social impact and contribution to broader society.

Kutlwano Ramaboa, the GSB’s international relations manager, says: "Accreditation … gives us a focused opportunity to reflect on all aspects of course delivery and quality."

Naudé acknowledges that global bodies don’t always reflect regional priorities. "We will participate in the upcoming AABS process to escape the Western bias of some accreditation bodies."

This perceived bias persuades some schools to hold out against international accreditation. Regent Business School director Ahmed Shaikh says: "The context in which SA and African schools operate is very different to that in the West. We should not be training people for Western markets."

Management College of Southern Africa director Zaheer Hamid adds: "I want to see more acknowledgment of and sensitivity to Africa’s unique environment."

Context matters, but many students want globally recognised degrees

—  What it means

Agencies insist it’s already happened. EFMD executive Michael Osbaldeston says European-based educational principles have been modified by exposure to the developing world. "Our standards are universal, but how you apply them depends on where you are and the context in which you operate," he says.

Not that this is a big issue for Equis in Africa. Outside SA, the only accredited school is in Egypt. The AACSB isn’t much better off. In SA it also has the Gordon Institute of Business Science, plus a school each in Egypt and Nigeria.

Both organisations, however, have programmes to help schools in developing regions. Membership, not to be confused with accreditation, gives schools access to upliftment initiatives.

"We are interested in incremental African initiatives," says the AACSB’s Tim Mescon. "We are funding a project with four African schools. Some are years away from accreditation, but we want to create aspiration."