In an endeavor to bring all management schools on the same platform, Mumbai based SVKM's NMIMS University in association with All India Management Schools is organising a two-day International Workshop on Accreditation on the 3rd and 4th of March 2008 in Mumbai. The workshop will feature international speakers from leading accreditation agencies such as AACSB, AMBA, SAQS and EQUIS, and also from national accreditation agencies such as the NAAC and NBA.
Talking about the objective of this workshop, NMIMS says, “With over 1500 B-schools in the country, each school tries to create strong competitive differences to attract the best of talents in students, faculty and corporate. Accreditation is one such benchmarking measure that has helped several schools in competing on a level playing field.”
Adds NMIMS, “Besides the national accreditation bodies, global accreditation is a new buzzword among management schools today. In addition to providing a stamp of approval on an institution's systems and processes, it also provides mobility for students and teachers in a global international arena. To be considered in an international forum, global accreditation is today becoming a much required benchmark.”
National accreditation agencies such as National Board of Accreditation (NBA) of the AICTE and the National Accreditation and Assessment Council (NAAC) of the University Grants Commission have been trying to assess schools on parameters such as curriculum, teaching, research and consultancy, infrastructure, student progress, governance and innovation.
AACSB pioneered the B-school accreditation process in 1916, with ACBSP following suit in 1988. IACBE, an offshoot of AACSB, is the latest entrant founded in 1996. EQUIS, the European Quality Improvement System managed by EFMD and AMBA all started around the mid 1990's.
In India, many management schools are vying for global accreditations with several schools already having finished the initial stages of applications.
The workshop will be inaugurated on March 3 by Dr. Bhalchandra Mungekar, Member- Planning Commission and the Guest of Honour will be Prof. Sukhdev Thorat, Chairman-University Grants Commission. The two days are slated for discussions and debates on accreditation by international and national speakers and also the sharing of experiences of accreditation by deans and directors of leading B-schools.
The workshop is especially beneficial for deans, directors and faculty members of various B-schools wanting to go for accreditation as also corporate looking at entering into management education, informs NMIMS.
