AMBA & BGA Joint Accreditation

Institutions in possession of AMBA accreditation can apply for AMBA & BGA joint accreditation. The joint process is designed for schools who already hold AMBA accreditation and are looking to add BGA to their portfolio.*

AMBA & BGA joint accreditation emphasises the importance of an institution’s overall impact and value creation for students, employers, and communities, with a focus on responsible management, while maintaining the same level of rigour found in AMBA’s accreditation of post-graduate business programmes. Achievement of joint accreditation allows institutions to demonstrate the quality of their programmes, their responsible management practices, and positive impact on stakeholders across the entire school, as well as within their MBA.

Undergoing a joint accreditation means that institutions need only one visit of highly experienced assessors, and combines required documentation from the two accreditations, thus reducing the amount of administrative work and tasks.

*In exceptional circumstances, institutions new to both AMBA & BGA can engage in an AMBA & BGA joint accreditation, provided they meet all the eligibility criteria.

Joint accreditation allows the school to utilise an accreditation system that it is familiar with and translate it to the entire school’s activities, while providing unique insights into its overall impact and responsible management initiatives. Schools also submit an additional sample programme outside the MBA for further analysis which will provide specific ideas and recommendations for development and continuous improvement. This is all undertaken in a streamlined manner that greatly reduces the impact on the school’s resources – both in terms of time and cost.

The AMBA & BGA joint accreditation process consists of three stages to ensure business schools are fully prepared for the final assessment visit. Each step exists to support the quality enhancement of the institution.

The AMBA & BGA assessment visit consists of a two full-day visit to the institution’s main campus by a Peer Review Team (PRT). The PRT includes three assessors who belong to the AMBA & BGA Faculty of Assessors, a group of current and retired deans and directors with decades of experience concerning business school education.

The institution will be given an agenda for the two days on how to address both the AMBA and BGA accreditation criteria.