We would expect accreditation agencies like ACBSP, AACSB International EQUIS etc., to play the role of catalysts to build quality in the b-schools to help move them to the stage where they could be accredited. Accreditation and quality building processes should be synonymous to each other.

“I find the SEAA International Deans meet as one of the most interesting and practical ideas and I can see that expert help from such initiative to advise the policy makers in India would go along way in the current debate to bring up the quality of business schools”, Sushma Berlia, Chairman of Apeejay Stya Group of India at the meeting. She wanted a global network of international deans is established to help write out and implement a practical Roadmap for Indian Business education.

“The mentors and assessors of Indian B-schools at the accreditation agencies need to understand the special aspects of Indian campuses where the higher education system does not enjoy the same autonomy as with the western schools”, explained Bijoy Sahoo of NCCU, North Carolina.

The 3000 plus B-school community has a range of quality to offer and the accreditation process would help focus on the segment that could lead the rest over the years, Raman said. India already has seven international accreditations while another 50 or so are waiting in the pipeline. “being the first ACBSP accredited school in India, I can certainly vouch for the merit of adopting accreditation processes at our campus”, explained R Nandagopal of PSG Institute of Management of Coimbatore. He gave a presentation on his school as an accreditation case at the international meet.

“Research continues to be in focus so is the overall outcome of the business school process. What you cant deliver we cant promise and our ability to deliver should be improving continuously which is the basis of any independent accreditation process”, explained B V Krishnamurthy of M S Ramaiah Institute of Management Studies (MSRIM) Bangalore.

The India Focus events had a number of Indian as well expat speakers endorsing the need to understand Indian management closely and provide guidance and expertise necessary to guide its progress. The Roadmap of development for Indian b-schools should help in evolving a stronger international peer network, especially among countries which are fast emerging in the business education and are looking to international experience to learn which India has to offer in plenty.

Take away:

Take away from the event was that India should showcase its strength in management education by conducting more such events abroad A global alliance of deans of Indian origin and those interested in India story should develop to mutually help build strong schools that would produce globally competent integrity based high value human resource talent to lead the industries of future. The international experience of campus processes should be shared through such forums to make the effort and energy spent in international accreditation a worthwhile proposition.

Accreditation can never be considered as an expenditure but an investment in the future of business schools.

SEAA is hopeful that the India Focus event and International Deans meet would trigger the formation of the global network of deans who would advise the Indian authorities the right direction in which the Indian business education should be led. The idea is essentially to get people together to advise the government of India to take the management education in the right direction by cutting out bureaucracy and allowing greater leeway and freedom to operate in a free world. Indian education system is one of the most restricted in the world allowing little room for innovation and experimentation which is what the international accreditation agencies measure as a pointer of progress of a business school!

AACSB to initiate top deans meet: AACSB International after a visit and a productive meeting with the leadership of world's number one century old accreditation body at its headquarters in Tampa, agreed for the need to convene a meeting of top deans of Indian origin from the USA and Europe among the prestigious AACSB accredited schools. The President of AACSB John J Fernandes and the Vice President Jerry Trapnell concurred that a top deans meet must be convened to focus on the prevailing policy regime in India and suggest positive changes that would help build global peer reviewed quality in Indian campuses. Bid for an European India Focus summit: SEAA has also taken up with the President of Association of MBAs, Sir Paul Judge the need to convene a similar meet of deans of Indian origin in Europe to drive home the point. "I think it is a great idea to start focusing on the needs of Indian business campuses India this focused way", observed John Fernandes of AACSB as an endorsement to SEAA efforts to build a MBA global quality roadmap for India.

About SEAA:

The Standards for Educational Advancement & Accreditation Trust based in New Delhi India and also in Raliegh-Durham in USA, is a non-profit advocacy and facilitation agency for international accreditation having close alliances with all the top rated accreditation agencies of the world including AACSB International, EQUIS-EFMD, Association of MBAs, ACBSP, IACBE, British Accreditation council among others. SEAA strongly endorses that capacity and quality can be built only through self-regulation through accreditation. SEAA Forum, part of the Trust helps bring the like minded business schools work together for building quality.