AUC School of Business Awarded its Third Accreditation
AUC’s School of Business has achieved the Triple Crown Accreditation, making it the first in the Middle East and the third in Africa to reach this milestone.
The school was accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), the Association of MBAs (AMBA) and the European Quality Improvement System (EQUIS).
The triple accreditation is a global recognition of the quality and impact of the academic and executive education programs and research at the AUC School of Business.
“We are proud to be part of this distinguished group,” said Dean of the School of Business Karim Seghir.
“Students who graduate from triple-accredited business schools have access to better opportunities in the global marketplace, graduate education and better global mobility,” he added.
The School of Business received accreditation of the AACSB in 2006 and again in 2011.
It gained the AMBA in April and finally the EQUIS this year. This makes the School of Business among the one percent of academic programs worldwide to achieve this feat.
Aya Mowafy, the academic assessment specialist at the Office of Academic Assessment and Accreditation, said that out of 13,670 schools in the world only 66 are considered triple-crowned business schools.
Mowafy explained that the EQUIS classification accredits the departments of Accounting, Management and Economics for both undergraduate and graduate programs.
She added that the AACSB is the oldest accreditation merit and is considered to be the benchmark for all business schools.
However, the AMBA is only for Master of Business Administration (MBA) programs.
The EQUIS classification standard introduced something new to the Business School – a European angle of accreditation, which is considered to be the toughest to receive.
“It means our degrees are comparable in terms of quality and entrance to European universities,” Tarek Selim, Chair of the Department of Economics, told the Caravan.
“[The] London School of Economics, Cambridge and Oxford are EQUIS standard [institutions] and we are on par with them right now,” Selim added.
Mowafy stressed that ‘internationalizing’ AUC’s programs is one of the most important gains of the accreditation standard.
Chair and Assistant Professor of Marketing Ahmed Tolba believes that the School of Business is now more recognized as a bridge between the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region and the rest of the world, in tandem with its mission and vision statement.
The triple crown has earned raves from the student body.
Sarah Amin, president of the Business Association said, “I think it gives our bachelor’s degree more prestige as it’s known that the process of getting the accreditation is extremely hard and requires the school to meet certain standards regarding education…starting from the courses available to providing external resources for students to develop.”
Business Administration senior Sherihan Megahed said she is proud of her school.
“I truly benefit from the courses and some of the professors are my mentors and role models,” she said.
Tolba said the school must continue improving to maintain its accreditation.
“[Even though] we got the accreditation, it does not mean that we are 100 percent perfect. There are a few issues that could be improved and this is the case for all universities,” he added.
Tolba said that the school is currently working on a proposal making it mandatory for students to take courses in all areas of business in addition to their area of concentration.
