EQUIS Accreditation: A Level of Quality
Professor Cornuel, could you tell us briefly what the efmd is and what its role is in Management Education?
The European Foundation for Management Development (efmd) was founded 30 years ago as an independent not-for-profit membership association of management education providers and leading companies. It is Europe's unique forum for information, research, networking and debate on innovation and best practice in management development.
As Europe's largest network association in the field rcs data of management development, with some 400 members from academia, business, public service and consultancy in forty countries of Europe and the World, European Foundation for Management Development plays a central role in shaping the European approach to Management Education. Increasingly, however, its membership is drawn from beyond Europe as the business of management education itself becomes more global.
efmd is financed exclusively by the fees paid by its members or by charges made to cover the cost of its various activities and services. These include Conferences, meetings, seminars, learning groups, etc., targeted at different audiences within the membership. In addition to the Annual Conference for all members, there is an important meeting of Deans and Directors of Schools and Universities, as well as special meetings for MBA Directors and External Relations Officers. On the corporate side there is also a series of events and meetings focussed on management development issues in companies.
Furthermore the efmd provides a range of information services including a newsletter and a quarterly publication called Forum. It runs a certain number of special projects, usually in collaboration with other organisations such as the European Commission, as in the case of the China European International Business School in Shanghai, managed as a joint venture with the Chinese Jiaotang University.
Through these various activities, efmd strives to provide a platform in Europe to bring together leaders in the management education profession in order to reflect upon major problems that they have in common. The aim is to establish a learning community within the discipline. In pursuit of this objective, efmd does not limit itself to Europe, but seeks to serve as an ambassador for European values and practices in management education throughout the world. It works closely with representative organisations outside of Europe and participates actively in all major events of importance to our profession around the world, for instance the Global Forum, and of course AACSB and GMAC meetings.
Professor Cornuel, could you also tell us about EQUIS? Why did the efmd launch this system of accreditation?