Following in the footsteps of the Indian School of Business or ISB, Hyderabad, which has secured accreditation of the US-based non-profit accreditating agency Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), many a business school wants to join the bandwagon. The ISB went in for the accreditation as it is not affiliated to any university or its degree recognised by any university.
The ISB, hence, became the first business school in the country to get an international accreditation. Arun Pereira, a clinical associate professor of management education and head, centre for teaching, learning and case development of the ISB, told Business Standard, “The recognition would help business schools fend of competition from business schools that plan to come in and also ensure quality management education.”
In case of the ISB, he said, while the institute has very well respected management programmes, they lacked an official recognition. The accreditation is a way of getting around that shortcoming. The ISB took about three and a half years to get the accreditation, he added. Meanwhile, many a business wants to get such international accreditations, though it’s a long drawn out process.
On an average, a business school takes about 3.5 years to get the accreditation, said Eileen Peacock, vice-president, AASCB International, USA. Most schools take about seven years to get accreditated.
According to the director of a reputed business school from the North, “The accreditations have been necessitated by the imminent entry of foreign business schools to India in the near future. Indian business schools could lose out to foreign counterparts who may have the accreditations.”
The AASCB has a global strategy to recognise high quality management education occurring globally in different ways.
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