European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD)
The EFMD is a global not-for-profit organisation devoted to the continuous improvement of management development. It brings together leading academics and senior executives from business schools and companies and provides them with benchmarking and networking opportunities.
EFMD is funded in part by membership fees. Additional funds come from grants, contracts, fee-based services and the sale of publications and advertising. EFMD assists its institutional members with a continuous quality improvement process through the development of EQUIS, the European Quality Improvement System (EQUIS).
EQUIS is the brand name which EFMD uses to accredit business schools. The fundamental objective of EQUIS, linked to the mission of EFMD, is to raise the standard of management education worldwide.
As at March 2008, 110 institutions in 32 countries had been awarded EQUIS accreditation.
Click here to view the EFMD website.
The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)
The AACSB International was founded in 1916 and adopted its first accreditation standards in 1919.
Its founding members include Harvard, Northwestern, University of California at Berkeley, University of Chicago, University of Pennsylvania and Yale. In 1991, AACSB International members approved a significant shift in emphasis when accreditation standards became linked with the business school’s mission and a peer review system was introduced, to evaluate readiness for and maintenance of accreditation.
Institutions that earn accreditation from AACSB International confirm their commitment to quality and continuous improvement through a rigorous and comprehensive peer review. According to AACSB International, accreditation assures stakeholders that business schools:
- Manage resources to achieve a vibrant and relevant mission
- Advance business and management knowledge through faculty scholarship
- Provide high-calibre teaching of quality and current curricula
- Cultivate meaningful interaction between students and a qualified faculty
- Produce graduates who have achieved specified learning goals
- As at May 2008, 555 business schools were AACSBaccredited, of which 96 were a non-US institution
Click here to view the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) International website.
How do EFMD and AACSB differ?
Achieving accreditation from both AACSB and EFMD will ensure that the Australian School of Business is global in appeal and scope.
AACSB accredits business schools, whereas EFMD provides a variety of services and functions aimed at improving the quality of management through various means. The accreditation of business schools is just one of EFMD’s business activities, which it began in 1997.
The key differentiators are:
- AACSB is a US organsation and based in Florida; EFMD is European and based in Brussels. Most business schools with AACSB accreditation are American; the great majority of business schools with EQUIS accreditation are European
- AACSB focuses on an institution’s mission and how that mission is embodied in the educational policies and processes of the business school. AACSB standards relate to the quality of the programs, the intellectual contributions of academic staff, the mechanisms for continual improvement in programs, and the student experience. EQUIS is broader in scope, emphasising not only the quality of the educational experience but also the institution’s relations with the corporate sector and community at large, as well as the degree of internationalisation