Nottingham University Business School is joining an elite global group of EQUIS-accredited business schools in management education. Extensive visits earlier in the year by an international EQUIS peer review team assessed Nottingham’s operations in the UK and overseas.
EQUIS, which stands for European Quality Improvement System, is an accreditation scheme for leading institutions in business education. It is granted and run by EFMD, the European Foundation for Management Development, in Brussels.
Uniquely, this EQUIS accreditation will apply to all of the Business School’s international operations, including campuses in the UK, China and Malaysia. Both the Nottingham and China campuses were visited separately for the EQUIS evaluation. Nottingham University Business School will be accredited for a period of three years before it is reassessed.
It takes several years to prepare for the rigorous process of accreditation. EQUIS assesses institutions as a whole. Not only all degree programmes but also all activities and sub-units of the institution, including teaching, research, e-learning units, executive education provision and community outreach, are considered. Institutions must be primarily devoted to management education.
Responding to the news, Professor Leigh Drake, Director of the Business School, said: “Nottingham University Business School is delighted to join a select international group of the world’s top business schools — just 128 out of more than 7,000 worldwide in 34 countries have EQUIS accreditation — so this is an excellent and significant achievement.
“To be awarded EQUIS accreditation for Nottingham University Business School in the UK, China, and Malaysia endorses and enhances our ambitious, multi-campus strategy and confirms the quality of our staff, students, programmes and facilities. EQUIS sets very high standards and we are extremely proud to join this elite group as a truly international business school.
“EQUIS focus strongly on corporate links, internationalisation and contribution to the community, which are increasingly important attributes of leading business schools, and we are very grateful for the involvement and support of our alumni and corporate friends and associates in contributing to this success.”
EQUIS is a mission based accreditation with an international focus and covers the entire School and all its activities — staff, students, programmes, research, contribution to the community, resources and administration, internationalisation, corporate connections. It is among the most prestigious of the accrediting bodies.
Since 1993, Nottingham University Business School has also held accreditation from AMBA, the Association of MBAs, for the quality of its MBA courses. The School recently went through a successful assessment from the AMBA team and was awarded a further five years of accreditation.
Scott Goddard, Director of International Relations and Chair of the School’s Accreditation Committee, commented that: “EQUIS is one of the most stringent of the international business school accreditation bodies.
“The Business School has introduced significant improvements as a result of the rigorous self-assessment and peer review process of the accreditation. We are now progressing in our aim to be a top 50 school worldwide. Our ambition is now to add AACSB (the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) accreditation to complete the ‘triple crown’.”
The MSc Tourism Management & Marketing now has the TedQual kite mark, which means it is certified by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) as a recognised tourism education programme. The MSc in Marketing has received accreditation from CIM, the Chartered Institute of Marketing.
EQUIS, the European Quality Improvement System, is the leading international system of quality assessment, improvement, and accreditation of higher education institutions in management and business administration.
Its scope covers all programmes offered by an institution from the first degree up to the PhD, including non-degree programmes. EQUIS has established its prestige and recognition worldwide. In its twelve years of existence, EQUIS has accredited 124 institutions across 34 countries from all five continents. The impact of EQUIS in raising the standard of management education worldwide is widely recognised.
EFMD, the European Foundation for Management Development, is the main network organisation for progressive business schools in Europe and worldwide and leading corporations committed to executive development. For more information, visit: http://www.efmd.org
Nottingham University Business School is one of the UK’s leading centres for management education. It ranked among the world’s leading business schools in the 2009 Financial Times Global Top 100 MBA and Global Masters in Management ranking, and The Economist Top 100 MBA 2009.
The School also ranks 1st in the UK, 3rd in Europe and 23rd globally in the Aspen Institute’s ‘Beyond Grey Pinstripes’ ranking of the world’s most innovative MBA programmes that lead the way in integrating social, environmental, and ethical issues into management education and research. The Business School has pioneered entrepreneurship teaching and research at Nottingham and the University won the 2008 Times Higher Education Entrepreneurial University of the Year award.
The University of Nottingham is ranked in the UK’s Top 10 and the World’s Top 100 universities by the Shanghai Jiao Tong (SJTU) and Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings.
More than 90 per cent of research at The University of Nottingham is of international quality, according to RAE 2008, with almost 60 per cent of all research defined as ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’. Research Fortnight analysis of RAE 2008 ranks the University 7th in the UK by research power. In 27 subject areas, the University features in the UK Top Ten, with 14 of those in the Top Five.
The University provides innovative and top quality teaching, undertakes world-changing research, and attracts talented staff and students from 150 nations. Described by The Times as Britain’s “only truly global university”, it has invested continuously in award-winning campuses in the United Kingdom, China and Malaysia. Twice since 2003 its research and teaching academics have won Nobel Prizes. The University has won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in both 2006 (International Trade) and 2007 (Innovation — School of Pharmacy).
Nottingham was designated as a Science City in 2005 in recognition of its rich scientific heritage, industrial base and role as a leading research centre. Nottingham has since embarked on a wide range of business, property, knowledge transfer and educational initiatives ( www.science-city.co.uk ) in order to build on its growing reputation as an international centre of scientific excellence. The University of Nottingham is a partner in Nottingham: the Science City.
‘Universities Week: What’s the big idea?’ aims to tell higher education’s success stories this week. Visit the website here: http://www.universitiesweek.org.uk
More information is available from Nottingham University Business School’s External Relations Manager Sophia Taylor at S.Taylor [a] nottingham.ac (p) uk , +44 (0)115 846 6974
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