The rare collaboration among the International B-accreditation agencies to appear together at the International Accreditation Conference of 2009 made a major impact among the B-school leadership. The event also reinforced the serious interest the global quality benchmarking agencies are showing about the Indian B-school cene. The participants were unanimous that Indian B-schools are ready for the next leap into global league and accreditation would greatly help to set the pace.

"We are absolutely serious and excited about the Indian MBA schools getting accredited globally ", Eileen Peacock Vice President of AACSB International, the highly acclaimed global accrediting agency.

"There is a lot happening here at Indian B-schools and I find a stronger momentum now than ever in our long engagement with the Indian b-school community", Jim Herbolick, Deputy Director General of European Federation for Management Development which runs EQUIS accreditation. Jim is a familiar face in India from his numerous visits to promote global quality in MBA eduation in India.

"It is exciting to be back again to address the Indian B-schools. There is everything going here for going global", Mark Stoddard who heads the accreditation programme facilitation at Association of MBAs UK.

"Our first Asian accreditation could easily come from India", comments Douglas Viehland, Executive Director of ACBSP USA one of the fastest growing global accrediting bodies.

The conference brought together around 60 leading Indian B-schools who are keen take up international accreditation.

"We were the first to get IACBE of US accreditation in India and we have already taken accreditation ", says BV Krishnamurthy Director of Alliance Business Academy Bangalore who also represents IACBE, the youngest and one of the most active American global accrediting agencies, in India.

"The B-schools of the south Asian region are becoming stronger and innovative. There is a lot happening in this region", says
C Ramakrishna Executive Director of the home grown regional accrediting agency.

"International accreditation is the sure fire means of being recognised globally leading to stronger networking and collobarations with peer
B-schools", explains A Thothathri Raman, founder and head of SEAA.

"There is a strong peer association among accredited business schools. There is a lot of sharing and joint initiatives here", comments
Dr B Rammohan Rao, Dean Emeritus of Indian School of Business (ISB) Hyderabad, a top rated global B-school. Dr Rao led the panel discussion on theconference theme.

Having brought a global consensus on the subject of accreditation and brought the top agencies together on a single platform, SEAA will continue to work towards bringing international accreditation closer home to help many an Indian B-school truly global ones. The coming year will see SEAA taking the global initiative to next level.

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