FT no longer accepts AMBA accreditation

Von am 3. September 2011

MBA schools that wish to take part in the Global MBA Ranking of the Financial Times (FT) need to have an international accreditation. Up until now this included accreditation by AACSB, Equis or AMBA. Now AMBA no longer belongs to this group.

According to Michael J. Jacobs from the FT, the main reason for this is that in the future only accreditations that accredit the school as a whole and not just individual programs will be considered. Insiders also hold the newly-introduced one-year accreditation for a possible reason. A validity period that is so short is by all means questionable.

It would also be interesting to find out why the AMBA introduced such a short accreditation period in the first place. Is it an attempt to create additional earnings? Unfortunately Sharon Bamford, the new AMBA CEO, clearly has no interest in offering an explanation. Several interview requests have gone unanswered.

AMBA’s behavior in another area is also raising questions. At a recent meeting, it presented three-minute short films about six innovative business schools. One school paid 12,000 GBP for the AMBA-produced promotional film that is a total of 1.5 hours in length. Did all six schools presented by films pay such a steep sum? Or were the schools just introduced as innovative if they had paid? It would also have been interesting to receive a comment from Sharon Bamford on this matter.

The actions of the FT are also questionable. On the one hand, AACSB, Equis and AMBA have been necessary for years in order to be eligible for the ranking at all. On the other hand, the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad (ISB) has had a very good slot on the ranking since 2008 although it doesn’t have a single one of these accreditations.

This year the FT suddenly says that only European and US schools must be accredited by international accreditation organizations like AACSB, Equis and AMBA. Is this an exception for ISB then? Because that doesn’t make sense. As there are even many accredited schools in Asia.

Now the FT is backpedalling when it comes to the application for the next ranking. This time all schools must be accredited by AACSB or Equis. Schools that are already in the ranking but don’t have either of these accreditations must submit these by 2016. AMBA will no longer do.

www.mbaworld.com
www.ft.com

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.