Amba accreditation for Lorange Institute

Von am 6. Dezember 2010

In July 2009 Peter Lorange bought the controversial GSBA in Zurich and changed its name in January 2010 to the Lorange Institute of Business. Since then, the long-time IMD president has completely rebuilt the school. Now he has received the accreditation of the UK-based Association of MBAs (Amba).

“Amba has supported our innovative approach to build a stabile network with top class guest professors,” says Peter Lorange proudly. Instead of installing a permanent faculty, the Norwegian instead focuses on guest professors from other business schools, who engage in both research and teaching for his institute. 44 professors from 13 countries now belong to his network.

In addition to an Executive MBA, the school also offers various programs for a Master of Science, as well as Executive Education courses. According to Lorange, strict acceptance criteria apply for these programs.

In any case, the Lorange Institute of Business, like the GSBA before it, is not a recognized university in Switzerland. The academic degrees are therefore conferred by the University of Wales, which validates other schools’ programs for a specified sum – that is, they equate to the University of Wales’ own programs.

But Wales also validates programs from some questionable institutes like the MBA from the Allfinanz Academy in Hamburg. In Switzerland, the online MBA from the Robert Kennedy College – which is also not a recognized university – is validated by Wales. The University of Wales itself is not among the 47 Amba-accredited schools in the UK.

In addition to the Amba accreditation, Lorange is also striving to acquire accreditation through AACSB and EQUIS. Progress has reportedly already been made with the AACSB. EQUIS however sets a permanent faculty of 25 professors as a requirement.

Lorange, who is considered one of the best-networked man in the world of business schools, is confident though that he will also receive the EQUIS seal of approval. “I myself helped define EQUIS’ standards years ago,” says Lorange. According to the Norwegian, these standards do not state that having a permanent faculty is obligatory. This simply developed into the norm over the course of the years. In Lorange’s opinion, the question is, what is more important: strict rules or promoting innovation?

www.lorange.org

Foto Bärbel Schwertfeger, MBA Journal

Über Bärbel Schwertfeger

Bärbel Schwertfeger ist Diplom-Psychologin und seit 1985 als freie Journalistin im Bereich Management, Weiterbildung und Personalentwicklung tätig.