India currently has around 1,300 and more business schools (B-schools) approved by All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) as the management education movement is nearing its fifth decade. Yet not a single school happens to be among the top 50 in any international rankings.
Of the many B-school rankings conducted in India every year, parameters stressed are infrastructure, education process, management development programmes, academic programmes, social responsibility, placement and industry interface. Even the best of the B-schools including IIMs, excelling in many of these parameters, today have a shortage of faculty and lack in research. Quality, distinctly, is something that the B-schools have to focus on in order to measure up to their peers in the west. Accreditation of B-schools is one way of ensuring quality. The accreditation principles are based on best practices in business education, maximising value addition.
These principles promote excellence in business education focusing on the value chain. Institutions must achieve and demonstrate an acceptable level of performance consistent with their mission, while satisfying defined standards. The processes used to strengthen curricula, develop faculty, improve instruction, and enhance intellectual activity determine the direction of improvement.
National Assessment & Accreditation Council (NAAC), an autonomous body set up by government in 1994, is one of the two agencies providing accreditation. National Board of Accreditation (NBA) constituted by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), is the other body extending accreditation to institutions. While the purpose of the two agencies is to ensure quality, their present framework focus more on the input side requiring the institutions to comply with the minimum requirements necessary for teaching-learning process.
The participation level for accreditation must increase. Internationally, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), founded in 1916, grants accreditation for undergraduate and graduate business administration and accounting programmes. As of July 2007, 551 member institutions hold AACSB business accreditation and 94 accreditation council members are outside of the US.
The Association of MBAs (AMBA) has formally been accrediting MBA programmes since the early 1980s and currently accredits the MBA portfolios of over 130 schools worldwide. Its accreditation has developed into the internationally recognised standard of quality and good practice. International Assembly for Collegiate Business Accreditation (IACBE) accredits degree programmes in business and business-related fields.
The IACBE bases its accrediting process on principles, rather than standards. European Quality Improvement System (EQUIS), an international system of strategic audit and accreditation designed by Europeans (EFMD-The Management Development Network), uses the EQUAL (European Quality Link) model.
The design of the EQUAL model allows the EQUIS framework to cope with diversity and offer schools a powerful development tool. Indian B-schools should make serious efforts at meeting the accreditation norms. The institutions must develop and implement a strategic plan and it is expected that the strategic plan will include the outcomes assessment plan, reflecting on the learning objectives, strategies, action plans, etc. The business faculty should participate in the continuous review of the curricula and recommend changes and improvements as deemed appropriate.
Quality teaching should be supported by highly qualified faculty, capable of providing learning opportunities for students and who are active in professional and scholarly activities. Excellence in teaching is related to appropriate faculty workloads. The institution should encourage and reward appropriate professional development through research grants, sabbaticals,and so on.
The resources allocated to the institution, such as, IT labs and tools, library and hi-tech delivery tools should be sufficient to support all aspects of its activities. Internationalisation of business curriculum may come along with international experiences provided through the institution, other universities, or educational consortia; articulation agreements with institutions in other countries; or the promotion of student/faculty exchanges abroad.
As cultural, demographic, and technological shifts occur in society, the needs of business change. Individual business faculty members should be encouraged, supported, and rewarded for their creativity and for developing educational innovations related to course content and instruction. A few leading institutions in India and overseas campuses such as IMT Dubai have taken a lead in acquiring international accreditation for their programmes. Making accreditation integral to the system is essential, and not optional any more, to usher in world class excellence at Indian B-schools.
