Accreditation
Accreditation is a strong indicator of a business school's quality. The Gustavson School of Business is accredited by AACSB International (The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) and by the European Foundation for Management Development through its European Quality Improvement System (EQUIS).
Why is accreditation important?
- Accreditation with AACSB and EQUIS shows that we provide a top-quality business education.
- It tells students and employers that our programs are academically rigorous -- and in tune with the needs of today's business environment.
- It means that we maintain high standards relating to our programs, policies, learning goals and outcomes, faculty qualifications, research, and community connections.
- Being accredited means that we have specific strategies in place to ensure continuous improvement, relevance, and currency in the world of business education.
- Fewer than one per cent of the world's business schools hold both EQUIS and AACSB accreditation.
For more information about our accreditation status contact accredit@uvic.ca.
AACSB
The AACSB accreditation process is extremely rigorous. In December 2010, after a three-year process, we became one of 620 schools worldwide with AACSB accreditation -- that's less than five per cent of the business schools in the world.
AACSB accreditation involves meeting 21 quality standards relating to strategic management, student and faculty characteristics, and assurance of student learning.
Our AACSB accreditation means that we:
- manage resources to achieve a clearly-articulated mission
- provide high-quality teaching and curricula
- deploy faculty who are current in their knowledge, practices and research
- advance business and management knowledge through faculty research and professional activities
- produce graduates who have achieved specified learning goals
AACSB's web site answers your questions about what this accreditation means to you.
EQUIS
Gustavson was accredited by EQUIS in 2007 and reaccredited in 2010. Our accreditation covers all degree programs as well as our executive programs.
- EQUIS accreditation is administered by an international body of academics and professionals. A school is assessed by a team that includes international representation from both the academic and business communities.
- Accredited institutions must demonstrate high general quality in all dimensions of their activities, and a notably high degree of internationalization and close interaction with the community and the business world.
Visit the EFMD site to learn more about EQUIS .
PRME
The mission of the United Nation's Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) initiative is to inspire and champion responsible management education, research and thought leadership globally. Worldwide, 375 schools have signed on to the initiative, which encourage schools to adapt their curricula, research, teaching and strategies to new business challenges and opportunities arising from corporate responsibility and sustainability.
We formally joined the initiative in 2009, becoming one of 13 Canadian schools to do. The six principles are:
Principle 1: Purpose
We will develop the capabilities of students to be future generators of sustainable value for business and society at large and to work for an inclusive and sustainable global economy.
Principle 2: Values
Principle 3: Method
Principle 4: Research
Principle 5: Partnership
Principle 6: Dialogue
Assurance of Learning
Student learning is the central activity of higher education and articulating and measuring its educational goals is an important task for all schools. As an AACSB-accredited business school, we are committed to meeting specific Assurance of Learning (AoL) standards. These standards support two principles which are the foundation of AACSB accreditation: accountability and continuous improvement.
- Gustavson's AoL assessment system is a way for us to evaluate how well we accomplish our educational aims. We've developed a set of learning goals and a system of measuring learning outcomes for each of our degree programs. Each semester and each year, we assess the accomplishment levels of our students compared to our learning goals and use the information to plan improvements to our programs, teaching practices and curricula.
- AoL is a means of holding ourselves accountable to delivering what we say we will deliver to students and employers, and a way of supporting the continuous improvement of our degree programs.
Our AoL program is consistent with the standards established by AACSB and is a required component of our continued accreditation.
