Business School awarded 5 year EQUIS accreditation

Nottingham University Business School in the UK, China and Malaysia has been awarded renewal of its EQUIS accreditation for the coveted maximum period of five years.

This achievement confirms Nottingham's place in a select global group of business schools that hold the full accreditation. Extensive visits earlier in the year by an international EQUIS peer review team assessed all the Business School’s operations in the UK, China and Malaysia.

Nottingham is unique for being the only business school in the world to be accredited for its operations in three countries simultaneously.

EQUIS is one of the three prestigious accreditation schemes for leading institutions in business education. It is granted and run by EFMD, the European Foundation for Management Development, which is based in Brussels. EQUIS is a mission based accreditation with an international focus and its scope covers the entire School and all its activities.

One of the world’s top business schools

Achieving the coveted accreditation signals the EFMD’s confidence in the School’s quality and allows Nottingham to position itself as one of the world’s top business schools offering an outstanding education.

It takes several years to prepare for the rigorous process of accreditation. EQUIS assesses business schools as a whole, including not only all degree programmes but also all activities and sub-units of the institution covering teaching, research, business connections, executive education provision and community outreach, alumni relations, student opinion, administration and resources.

Professor Alistair Bruce, Dean of the Business School, said: “EQUIS focus on a strong interface with the world of business, internationalisation and contribution to the community, which are increasingly important attributes of leading business schools. We are grateful for the involvement of our alumni and corporate friends and associates in contributing to this success.”

Dr Sally McKechnie and Dr Cher Li who led preparations for the accreditation assessments said: “EQUIS is arguably 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 EQUIS accreditation. Our ambition is now to add AACSB (the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) accreditation to complete the ‘triple crown’.”

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.

Professional accreditations

Nottingham University Business School has recently gained accreditation from a number of professional bodies for individual courses, including full accreditation by the Chartered Banker Institute (CBI) for MSc Banking and Finance and MSc Banking and Risk, which means that students graduate with a Chartered Banker Diploma - the gold standard for professional bankers and the highest award available in the banking world.

The School’s BSc Accountancy “Flying Start” is one of only three undergraduate degrees in the UK run in collaboration with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) that offers students paid work placements and the chance to work with PwC when they graduate.

More information is available from Nottingham University Business School’s External Relations Manager, Sophia Taylor
e: S.Taylor@nottingham.ac.uk
t: +44 (0)115 846 6974