Accreditations !!!

[Taran]

Hi,

I want to ask as to how much importance should an applicant give to a B-School's Program's accreditation by any of the following accreditation bodies - AMBA/AACSB/EQUIS?

If on one hand it is safer to apply to accredited programs only, it is also true that on the other hand, some good programs are not even accredited. One such example is MBA from Schulich School of Business. I really want to apply for this program but now am reconsidering.

Please advice...

[humblebee]

The value of a b-school MBA is driven more by the reputation of the school and program than any accreditions. This is just my humble and ignorant view. i.e. reputation > AMBA/AACSB/EQUIS

I think the accreditions provide the lower tiered programs to access some form of legitimacy and assist with marketing.

Across all my reading, I've never actually read anyone on forums saying I'm going to school x becuase it is accredited by AMBA....

In short, I don't think no one actually cares about accreditation.

[Taran]

Even i think no one cares for the Accreditations. But i still wanna make sure that these people, who dont care, do so for the right reasons.

[humblebee]

Getting an MBA isn't like getting a professional degree e.g. engineering or medicine. So accreditation shouldn't matter.

When you tell be you got your MBA from school X, is your leading line really going to be - i went to school X, which has been accredited by AMBA?

In Australia, it's only the lower tier universities who market their accreditations really hard. The elite universities don't even both. Even in Malaysia this happens. Accreditation is only for really unknown universities to give them some legitimacy. If the school you're going to is that unknown, it won't suddenly become a golden goose because it's accredited by EQUIS.

[Taran]

Thanks bee.

[Tani]

Schulich is an excellent school and is ranked 2nd in Canada by the London Financial Times. If you are concerned about the impact of ranking on your job prospects check out the firms that interview and hire on Schulich's campus.

[Taran]

Thanks a lot Tani. I guess that should be the best way to find things out.

[Tani]

Remember - in the end it's about what you learn and where you end up working, not about an accreditation. Ivey, the number one ranked school in Canada only became accredited a few years ago. I suspect they aren't as concerned about accreditation as seriously as we are in the US. They have many fewer schools and the top ones are well known.

[Taran]

Thanks again Tani !!!!
I really appreciate your help.

All this infact became a concern after i read an article in Economist's "Which MBA". They use "accreditations" as one of the paramaters to analyze and rate a B-School. The article mentioned that it was safer to apply and goto schools that were accreditated by atleast one of the three Accreditation Bodies in the world. Then when i saw that Schulich did not have any of such accreditations, i thought it was time to ask others about how important accreditations actually are. And that is why i posted a Forum thread here.

You are right about what matters most is what i learn from the program rather than whether it was accreditated. If accreditations are taken seriously in the US, should i be cautious when applying to US B-Schools?