The University of Macau (UM) said in a statement earlier this week that its Faculty of Business Administration (FBA) has received an accreditation from the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) called the EFMD Quality Improvement System (EQUIS).
EQUIS, according to the statement, is “the leading international system of quality assessment, improvement, and accreditation of higher education institutions in management and business administration”, with accredited institutions required to demonstrate “high general quality” in areas including management, teaching, research, and a “high degree of internationalisation”.
With the accreditation, the statement noted that it enables the faculty to join an “exclusive” group of business schools worldwide that have gained accreditations from three major international accreditation bodies: “EQUIS in the European Union, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) in the United States, and the Association of MBAs (AMBA) in the United Kingdom”.
The statement added that there are only 116 triple-accredited business schools in the world. The faculty is the first and the only business school in the city to have received the accreditation, the statement underlined. Moreover, there are currently 207 EQUIS-accredited schools in 45 countries and regions, with 45 schools being in Asia.
UM Rector Yonghua Song (aka Song Yonghua) was quoted in the statement as saying: “First, with this accreditation, the FBA can better benchmark itself against international standards and promote further development. Second, the FBA can offer more innovative courses that are important to Macau’s economic diversification as well as the development of the Guangdong-Macau In-depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin and the Greater Bay Area [GBA], especially in the fields of finance, accounting, tourism management, and data science. Third, the FBA can further improve its teaching quality and cultivate more outstanding professionals” for Macau and the mainland.
Meanwhile, FBA Interim Dean Prof Ge Wei (aka Wei Ge) was quoted in the statement as saying: “The FBA has previously attained accreditations from AACSB and AMBA. Gaining the EQUIS accreditation will further put the faculty on the map of the world’s top business schools. It is a new start for our faculty.’
This undated handout photo provided by the University of Macau (UM) shows its Faculty of Business Administration (FBA).
