VIEW FROM THE TOP
THE YEAR IN REVIEW
AMBA & BGA CEO Andrew Main Wilson celebrates a year of growth and innovation, from eight newly accredited schools and record conference attendance numbers to a brand new networking platform for business school staff, students and graduates
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ur financial year ended on 30 September. It was another era of exceptional growth, in line with our track record of achieving revenue growth in
accreditation brand, alongside AMBA, AACSB and EQUIS. Our three largest conferences – global in Budapest, Asia Pacific in Bangkok and Latin America in Rio de Janeiro – all achieved record delegate attendances. This was fortified by our continuous commitment to choosing prominent cities, five‑star conference hotels and quality networking dinner venues, attracting high-profile speakers from our industry and debating the top 10 issues facing business schools over the next five years. Our events highlighted once again that although video conferencing plays a useful role in maintaining and building relationships with our business schools, employers, students and graduates around the world, it is no substitute for the deeper understanding and closer relationships built through quality time spent together. We also achieved a record number of entries for the 2024 Excellence Awards, which came from all six continents. We were proud to champion the ultimate winners’ superb efforts and innovations, culminating in our annual gala dinner in London in January.
No fewer than 70,000 students and graduates continue to enjoy free AMBA & BGA membership; we have provided them with a wide range of webinars, thought leadership articles and careers advice through our Career Development Centre. In September we launched a brand new innovative AMBA & BGA membership platform, partitioned into two segments: one for business school staff and the other for students and graduates. The platform allows faculty and staff from our 470 business schools to network directly with each other and our 70,000 student and graduate members are able to connect with each other too. Last year, I predicted a more uncertain economic and geopolitical outlook; sadly, that has proven to be true – and this uncertainty is likely to become even more acute over the next 12 months. Nevertheless, it is a pleasure to be able to report that AMBA & BGA is in its strongest-ever position, both financially and in terms of growth rate, since its formation in 1967. I look forward, together with the team, to another exciting and fulfilling year of further growth and innovation in 2025.
every year but one since 2013. We accredited eight new AMBA schools during this period, including five who gained prestigious triple-crown status through their AMBA accreditation, as well as re-accrediting our highest-ever annual number of AMBA schools, some 73 in total. No fewer than 57 of our 295 BGA member schools have already achieved BGA accreditation, many of them taking advantage of the time and cost efficiency of conducting both AMBA and BGA accreditation during the same panel visit. BGA’s emphasis on continuous impact, responsible management and lifelong learning – three of the key current priorities for all quality business schools – together with the time-efficient process and value for money offered by BGA, have played a highly influential role in it now now becoming the fourth major international
38 | Ambition | DECEMBER 2024
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