Prof Eon Smit, USB faculty member and driving force behind the school's accreditation strategy, gives some insight into the road travelled by the University of Stellenbosch Business School (USB) to gain the coveted Triple Crown of international accreditations.
When the USB received AACSB accreditation in 2012, it became the first school from an African university to obtain all three major international accreditations, also called the Triple Crown. What does this mean for USB's stakeholders?
Says Prof Eon Smit, USB faculty member and driving force behind the school's accreditation strategy: "A business school, like any other organisation, has to decide on what basis it wishes to compete. USB competes on all round quality. The problem is that quality is difficult to define, prove or measure.
"This is where accreditations come in. They give prospective students a truly independent, globally-benchmarked view of the school and the programme that they are buying. These accreditations are done by professionals who professionally audit your operation in terms of globally agreed upon quality criteria and end up knowing it better than you do."
The USB's accreditation journey started in 1995 when South Africa's new political dispensation allowed the school to cooperate with academic institutions in other parts of the world.
Prof Smit explains: "When the South African environment began to change, USB took a strategic decision to comply with international quality standards. EQUIS accreditation opened up the world for us."
USB achieved EQUIS accreditation from the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) in 2000. In 2002, the USB achieved AMBA accreditation from the Association of MBAs in the UK, and in November 2012 AACSB accreditation from the USA's Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.
Says Prof Smit: "Together, AACSB, EQUIS and AMBA look at business schools from three different geographical and three different quality perspectives. EQUIS, representing European industry, focuses on the entire school, internationalisation and corporate connections. AMBA evaluates the MBA programme, processes and quality parameters as seen through the eyes of MBA graduates. AACSB, among other criteria, uses well-defined quantitative measures, which include assurance of learning, departing from the point of view of educational institutions.
"The dichotomy between accredited and non-accredited schools will increase. This will lead to the upward adjustment of quality standards - also in terms of research. It will become increasingly difficult to obtain accreditation. During the past decade, new quality measures have been included, such as governance, sustainability, ethics and to an ever increasing extent, internationalisation. Schools need to adjust their strategies to comply with these quality standards."
For Prof Smit, USB's Triple Crown is a "virtual monument for everyone who has been part of the USB's accreditation efforts over more than a decade".
Only about 60 schools out of the 6 000 or so in the world have all three international accreditations. Accredited schools are regularly re-assessed by the accreditation bodies to ensure continued adherence to all the quality standards.
Over and above international accreditation, USB's international stature has also brought about growth in its international student body (in the full-time MBA class in particular), visiting student groups, visiting international faculty, research fellowships and student exchange programme. All USB MBA students have to attend a compulsory International Study Module at a foreign business school. The school has partnership agreements with over 80 international business schools.
According to Prof Smit, triple accredited schools convey a message of confirmed quality. "The accreditations guarantee that the schools have gone through quality control processes that put them among the best in the world."
Prof Eon Smit is a professor in Business Management at the University of Stellenbosch Business School (USB) and a member of the USB's Management Committee
