The University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business (UCT GSB) is one of only three African business schools to have received triple-crown accreditation from the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD).

“This recognition is a stamp of quality and proof that African business schools can be taken seriously alongside the big players on the global stage,” says UCT GSB director Professor Walter Baets.

Baets, who is also at the helm of the South African Business Schools Association, tells Engineering News that UCT GSB was reaccredited for the EFMD in 2013. Improving Quality “The official purpose of accreditations is to improve the quality of business school education and the research we deliver; these accreditations are an important investment in the quality of a business school,” he notes. He adds that accreditations also highlight the areas in which a business school can improve.

The triple-crown accreditation by EFMD is made up of the three largest and most influential business school accreditation associations: the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, based in the US; the Association of MBAs, based in the UK; and the European Quality Improvement System, based in Belgium.

Baets says it is important for business schools on the African continent not to merely import ideas and teaching methods from the US and Europe but also to adapt them to the needs of developing countries. “Thought leadership, as well as the need to provide local and international students with the skills they need to take on the challenges of this decade’s emerging markets, is important.

“We do not want to recreate Harvard in Africa. We need something that goes beyond that to address the specific challenges of Africa. If we use the accreditations as a quality-improvement exercise and keep our focus on our own context, I believe we are on the right path,” he explains.

It is the responsibility of all business schools on the continent to change negative perceptions of Africa by ensuring that African business schools realise their potential; therefore, the accreditations can go a long way towards helping them achieve this goal, says Baets.

He adds that, despite many people dismissing accreditations as mere marketing collateral, they remain “extremely valuable” for a business school.

Baets tells Engineering News that, in recent years, UCT GSB has noted that accreditations and international rankings are increasingly important factors when prospective students consider enrolment, especially foreign students, whose numbers are growing at the business school.