The Faculty of Business Administration [FBA] received the EQUIS accreditation

Yesterday, the FBA, as the only such institute in the Czech Republic, has been conferred with the prestigious EQUIS international accreditation. This accreditation is awarded only to those faculties with top teaching standards, outstanding academics, high quality scientific activities and strong links with business practice.

The faculty is thus ranked alongside such universities as the HEC Paris, the London Business School, the Rotterdam School of Management, as well as the University of St. Gallen. The FBA is only the fourth faculty in Central and Eastern Europe to have received this accreditation. The Accreditation Commission of the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) awarded the EQUIS accreditation; which is conferred only upon the best management oriented faculties; to the FBA. Worldwide, only 168 faculties, out of a total of 15,000 business faculties, have received the EQUIS accreditation. In Central and Eastern Europe the following institutes of higher learning have received this prestigious accreditation: the Polish Kozminski University, the Russian Graduate School of Management (St. Petersburg University) and the Slovenian Faculty of Economics (University of Ljubljana).

The accreditation process takes two years. The commission assessed the faculty on the basis of information provided in the so-called self-report, as well as the subsequent auditing processes which took place within the faculty itself. The commission also verified the findings from in-depth interviews with faculty and university staff, as well as with students, alumni and corporate partners.

„I am happy that the Faculty of Business Administration of the University of Economics, Prague, is now, officially, a member of the world elite,“ said the Dean of the FBA, Prof. Ing. Ivan Nový, CSc. The Dean added: “The faculty’s quality is further attested to by the fact that two of our study branches are regularly placed in the prestigious Financial Times Rankings, in addition to the excellent assessments given by employers to our graduates.“

The main objective of the EQUIS accreditation, which itself arises from the mission of the EFMD, is the global increase in quality in the area of management education. EQUIS endeavours to strike a balance between high academic quality on the one hand, and the professional relevance provided by close cooperation with business practice, on the other. Institutions which have received the EQUIS accreditation must demonstrate not only the highest standards in all their activities, but also a high degree of internationalization. Among other factors which are assessed are the control processes of the faculty, as well as the quality of the study programs and the learning processes. The quality of the academic staff, research, executive education, financial management, international reach and the quality of the level of consistency of contacts with the corporate sector are also assessed.

Prof. Machková, the Rector of the University of Economics, Prague, was among first congratulators. “Faculty of Business Administration has obtained an institutional accreditation, which shifts the management education at VŠE towards the international elite. I know how much effort the faculty had to expend to obtain this accreditation, and how the changes that faculty has undergone in the past three years were hard. But thanks to them the faculty managed to meet the demanding criteria and today’s success is really well-deserved.”

For an overview of those faculties which have received EQUIS accreditation, see here.