assessment visit SAF, which includes the Impact & Responsible Management Exercise as an appendix. This takes the place of the Continuous Impact Model (CIM) undertaken by the BGA-only accreditation assessment. The agenda is broadly similar to the standard AMBA MBA assessment visit, with some notable amendments and additions. For instance, the visit takes place over two full days and the formal discussion sessions begin after lunch on day one, as opposed to 9am on day two. Moreover, two additional sessions are scheduled on day two, to discuss the non-MBA BGA sample programme and to meet non-MBA BGA sample programme stakeholders, including students, alumni and employers. Hedenberg then remarked on the benefits of joint membership, including measurement of the school’s impact on society, value creation and alignment towards responsible management practices, plus the way it functions as a key differentiator for the institution, offering enhanced networking opportunities for students. Examining the accreditation journey On the second day of the conference, a panel of newly accredited and re-accredited schools talked through their experiences. Stéphanie Villemagne, chief operating officer for international development at the ESSCA School of Management, began by saying that “having to explain what you do is the biggest challenge; there is a ‘laser-focus’ on your MBA programme and how that fits in the context of your university”. Leila Guerra, vice-dean of education at Imperial College Business School, said there were three main challenges as far as she was concerned: “Getting the internal audience on board and persuading them of the importance” of achieving the accreditation can be difficult at first; you must also be prepared to last the pace and not to “lose sight of who you are when you first read the requirements”. Álvaro de la Rica Aspiunza, dean of Deusto Business School, noted that it was important to “differentiate your programme” and ask yourself, “what is your mission?” He also referenced the “cultural challenge in terms of collecting the necessary data”; initially, the school may think it’s a drain on their resources, but then they realise how useful the process is, as “the data can be used for internal communication and as the basis to make certain decisions”. Oriol Amat, rector of Pompeu Fabra University, noted that “higher education is very fast moving” and claimed that “in a few years, the key players will not be the universities of today”. He added that his institution needed “an engine to improve our speed and accreditation was a means of doing that”. Guerra observed that the process is beneficial as it “gets you in the habit of reporting, allowing you to measure your peer place, with the mentality of having to record things.” Villemagne agreed, noting that “it helps you to focus on the right metrics”, adding that becoming part of the AMBA & BGA network brings another dimension to the accreditation process – “it lifts you up to international standards”. Aspiunza concurred, saying that such endorsement has helped Deusto to take “an international approach” and position its MBA “as a flagship programme for our school”.
The assessment visit is based around an agenda that spans a day and a half; according to Pilkington, it is “collaborative and developmental”, featuring a “peer-review mentality”. It consists of four people: the chair, usually a current or former dean of an AMBA-accredited school; two other faculty or staff of current AMBA-accredited schools; plus an AMBA representative, who acts as “guardian of the criteria”. The final decision is given at the end of the visit. The last stage is post-assessment: verbal feedback given to the school at the conclusion of the visit is incorporated into a written report, which is fact-checked by the relevant institution and endorsed by the IAAB. BGA’s accreditation principles Next up was an overview of BGA’s quality assurance philosophy, provided by membership director Victor Hedenberg. He began by relating a telling anecdote from history. In Prussia, prior to industrialisation, there existed guilds where young people undertook an apprenticeship until they became a master of their chosen trade. In the mid-1700s, King Frederick the Great decreed that the country should standardise its education policies as it would make for a strong foundation for the nation, noting that “an educated people can be easily governed”. The standardised learning outcome became so popular that US educators would travel to Europe in order to study the Prussia model. Hedenberg then turned his attention to the present day and noted that the “value of education is changing”. He referenced the three pillars of BGA: positive impact, responsible management and lifelong learning, and mentioned by way of example a Colombian school that had created a fully recycled campus, featuring a water plant that also benefitted the local community. He encouraged schools to think about their unique selling point (USP) and advised them that if they didn’t already have one, then it was high time to think of one; this could take the form of forging industry partnerships, offering certain teaching modules, or particular staff expertise. BGA’s Continuous Impact Model (CIM) is a way for schools to track and impact metrics in the areas of intent, graduate achievement, value creation (eg entrepreneurship), scholarship, ecosystem and society. The BGA Impact Report shows why the school was accredited, creating, in Hedenberg’s words, “a level of transparency not seen before in accreditations”. Differentiation is encouraged in BGA in the sense that the association looks at a business school’s USPs, as well as its impact on stakeholders and society, which can be demonstrated in any number of ways. He urged delegates to “think of it like a bowl of fruit, individual, each offering something different.” The benefits of joint accreditation Joint accreditation was the theme of the fourth session of the day, with Pilkington firstly outlining the key differences in terms of reports and agenda. The same documentation is required as an AMBA-only assessment visit, plus an additional BGA joint
14 | Ambition | FEBRUARY 2023
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