Triple accreditation
Triple accreditation, also known as Triple Crown accreditation, is the combination of accreditations held by 100 business schools worldwide (less than 1% of all business schools in the world), awarded by the three largest and most influential business school accreditation organizations:[1]
- AACSB - The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (United States)
- AMBA - The Association of MBAs (United Kingdom)
- EQUIS - EFMD Quality Improvement System (European Union)
The Indian School of Business became the 100th Triple Accredited institution in the world upon achieving AMBA accreditation on May 12, 2020.
Accreditation comparison
Each of the three institutions assesses a business school according to different criteria and scope:[2][3][4]
- Scope of accreditation
- 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.
AMBA accreditation director George Iliev described the size and scope of the three accreditations in a seminar for British and Irish business schools in London in January 2020 with the following metaphor:
- - AACSB is the elephant in the savannah. It is the biggest animal;
- - EQUIS is the rhino. It is the second biggest;
- - AMBA is the giraffe. It grazes from the top.
- Duration of the accreditation process
- AACSB: 2–7 years
- AMBA: 9–18 months
- EQUIS: 2–3 years
- Reaccreditation
- 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
- School audit team
- AACSB's peer review team includes deans and business school administrators.
- AMBA's assessment team includes deans, associate deans, program directors and an AMBA director (serving as rapporteur).
- EQUIS's team includes three deans and one corporate representative.
- Evaluation report content
- AACSB's report reflects compliance with the AACSB standards
- AMBA's report includes compliance with criteria, conditions and recommendations
- EQUIS's report reflects compliance with the EQUIS standards
- Criteria/Standards size
- 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: 71 pages
- Quantitative vs Qualitative
- AACSB has more quantitative criteria (checklists)
- AMBA has more qualitative criteria
- EQUIS is in the middle (between AACSB and AMBA)
- Internationalization
- 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.
- Faculty numbers
- AACSB: prescribed faculty ratios (AQ/PQ ratio)
- AMBA: no prescribed faculty-to-students ratio
- EQUIS: prescribed minimum numbers of faculty
- Visiting faculty
- 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.
- Research
- 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.
- Program-specific criteria
- AACSB has no program-specific standards since it evaluates the entire university.
- AMBA has program-specific criteria such as:
- at least 3 years of full-time work experience for all admitted MBA students;
- at least 500 contact hours (scheduled class hours) for a full-time MBA curriculum and a minimum of 120 contact hours for a distance-learning MBA;
- at least 20 students enrolled in an MBA program;
- EQUIS has some program-specific standards in the context of the evaluation of the entire business school.
- Accreditation fees
- AACSB: 47,000 USD for initial business accreditation (or 63,500 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.[6]
- AMBA: 22,000 GBP for initial accreditation or 15,000 GBP for re-accreditation.
- EQUIS: 52,800 EUR for a 5-year initial accreditation or re-accreditation and 46,200 EUR for a 3-year initial accreditation or re-accreditation.[7]
Schools List by Country / Regions
There are 100 triple-accredited schools based in 36 countries / Regions as of May 2020:[8][9][10]
Australia
- QUT Business School, Queensland University of Technology
- Monash University
- The University of Sydney Business School
China
- Antai College of Economics and Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University
- Beijing Institute of Technology
- Lingnan College, Sun Yat-sen University
- Sun Yat-sen Business School, Sun Yat-sen University
- School of Economics and Management, Tongji University
- University of International Business and Economics
- Zhejiang University
- Xiamen University
Hong Kong
- School of Business, Hong Kong Baptist University
Finland
- Aalto University School of Business, Helsinki
- Hanken School of Economics, Helsinki and Vaasa
France
- Audencia Nantes
- EDHEC (École des hautes études commerciales du nord)
- EMLYON Business School
- ESC Rennes School of Business
- ESSCA School of Management
- ESSEC Business School
- Grenoble School of Management
- HEC Paris (Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales)
- ICN Business School
- IÉSEG School of Management
- INSEAD (Institut Européen d'Administration des Affaires)
- KEDGE Business School
- La Rochelle Business School
- Montpellier Business School
- NEOMA Business School
- Toulouse Business School
Germany
India
- Indian Institute of Management Calcutta
- Indian Institute of Management Indore
- Indian School of Business, which became the 100th Triple Accredited institution in the world, upon achieving AMBA accreditation on May 12, 2020.
Ireland
- University College Dublin, Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business/UCD Quinn School of Business
Mexico
- EGADE Business School, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Monterrey, Guadalajara and Mexico City.
- Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México, Mexico City.
The Netherlands
- Maastricht University, School of Business and Economics, Maastricht
- Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam
- University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam Business School, Amsterdam
New Zealand
- University of Auckland Business School, Auckland
- University of Waikato Faculty of Management, Hamilton
- Victoria University of Wellington, Victoria Business School, Wellington
- University of Canterbury Business School, Christchurch
Portugal
South Africa
Spain
- ESADE Business School and ESADE University Faculties, Barcelona
- IE Business School, Madrid
- IESE Barcelona
USA
- Hult International Business School, Campuses in Boston, San Francisco, London, Shanghai, and Dubai
UK
- Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow
- Alliance Manchester Business School, University of Manchester
- Aston Business School, Aston University
- Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham
- Bradford University School of Management, University of Bradford
- Cass Business School, City University London
- Cranfield School of Management, Cranfield University
- Durham University Business School, Durham University
- University of Edinburgh Business School, Edinburgh University
- University of Exeter Business School, University of Exeter
- Henley Business School, University of Reading
- Imperial College Business School
- Lancaster University Management School, Lancaster University
- Leeds University Business School, University of Leeds
- London Business School
- Loughborough University School of Business and Economics, Loughborough University
- Manchester Metropolitan University Business School
- Newcastle University Business School, Newcastle University
- Open University Business School
- University of Sheffield Management School, University of Sheffield
- Strathclyde Business School, University of Strathclyde
- Warwick Business School, University of Warwick
Institutions that have lost Triple Accreditation
Six business schools have previously held Triple Accreditation status but are no longer triple-accredited:
- ESCP Business School (France)
- Skema Business School (France)
- City University of Hong Kong (Hong Kong, China)
- Hong Kong Polytechnic University (Hong Kong, China)
- Queen's University at Kingston (Canada)
- University of Hull (UK)
Top schools without Triple Accreditation
A major reason for the small number of triple-accredited institutions in the world 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 some top US business schools: Harvard Business School, Wharton, Stanford GSB, Columbia Business School, Chicago Booth, Tuck School of Business, etc.
Another reason is that most of the schools that have obtained AACSB accreditation in the US and Canada do not look outside of North America for further validation.
References
- "Triple accredited business schools (AACSB, AMBA, EQUIS)". MBA Today.
- AACSB Standards http://www.aacsb.edu/accreditation/standards.asp
- AMBA Criteria https://www.associationofmbas.com/business-schools/accreditation/
- EQUIS Standards and Criteria http://www.efmd.org/accreditation-main/equis/equis-guides
- CarringtonCrisp report titled "Tomorrow's MBA", February 2014
- http://www.aacsb.edu/accreditation/fees.asp
- http://www.efmd.org/index.php/accreditation-main/equis/equis-fee-structure
- AMBA-accredited schools: https://www.associationofmbas.com/business-schools/accreditation/accredited-schools/
- AACSB-accredited schools: "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-09-03. Retrieved 2011-11-09.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- EQUIS-accredited schools: http://www.efmd.org/accreditation-main/equis/accredited-schools
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-08-03. Retrieved 2015-07-22.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- "Triple Crown for Frankfurt School: The prestigious AMBA accreditation". Frankfurt School of Finance and Management. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
- "Accreditations - School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg, Sweden".
- "คณะพาณิชยศาสตร์และการบัญชี มหาวิทยาลัยธรรมศาสตร์ ท่าพระจันทร์ ศูนย์รังสิต".