Evaluating excellence: the life & times of an AMBA assessor

Thinking back to your time as an AMBA accreditation assessor, what would you say was the most significant development you observed in the assessment process over the years?

My first contact with AMBA was when I was MBA director at Aston Business School in the 1980s. At that time, an accreditation visit was an informal event, involving the AMBA CEO (who was called “director general” in those days) and one other member of AMBA staff.

There was minimal documentation back then – just a few meetings with the dean, some faculty and maybe a couple of students. Nowadays, there is always a team of four experienced assessors, comprehensive and regularly updated criteria, formally structured meetings with faculty, students and employers, along with detailed feedback with recommendations and conditions.

With the growth in the number of accredited schools, it soon became impossible for the CEO to participate in all the visits (I was the first panel member invited to be a chair) and this led to the necessary formulation of a standardised format.

In your opinion, what is the single most important characteristic that distinguishes a truly excellent MBA programme from a good one?

I would say a well-informed understanding of the needs of students and their organisations resulting in an appropriate up-to-date curriculum focused on impact and outcomes.  Some schools, often citing academic freedom, are too concerned with what interests their faculty regardless of what is best for students.

What were the parts of the role that you liked most and least?

In terms of what I liked most: it’s always satisfying to deflate the egos of some business school deans (and others), especially when they attempt to dictate unrealistic versions of greatness that do not coincide with the evidence available to panel members. More importantly, I have found it very satisfying when visiting schools for a second, third or fourth time to see impressive progress and improvements resulting directly from advice and recommendations made by AMBA panel members.

And what I liked least: very little to be honest. Occasionally, a lack of involvement and commitment by a fellow panel member is frustrating, but these kinds of people do not usually get invited back. I have a personal problem with schools that go overboard with hospitality such as formal dinners, while not using such opportunities to enable panel members to meet representatives of the local businesses and other organisations with which they claim to have strong links

 What impact do you believe AMBA accreditation has had on the overall quality and standards of postgraduate management education including the MBA, MBM and the DBA globally?

I think AMBA has had, and continues to have, a very significant impact on postgraduate management education across a range of factors, including impact in all its forms, student and gender diversity, quality of faculty, state-of-the-art curricula, effective use of new teaching methods including online, plus much more.

In my view, AMBA stands out amongst the increasing numbers of accreditation bodies involved in business education as the single most sought-after endorsement of high quality.

What is the one key learning you took away from your time as an AMBA accreditation assessor that you think would still be relevant for those involved today?

Always triangulate, do not accept at face value information provided in documentation or by school staff. For example, sometimes an online check can reveal potential inconsistencies in claims made by a school – a typical case being more MBA programmes on its website than a school has declared to AMBA. There may be an adequate explanation, such as discontinued programmes not yet removed from the website.

Another claim might be, as happened on a recent visit, that an undeclared MBA which does not meet AMBA standards is in fact being delivered by a partner school, and it is only the premises that are being provided by the accredited school. That panel was not convinced and required removal of the programme as a condition of accreditation.

Meetings with current students are often the most important part of a visit. Students may be briefed by their school on how to answer predictable or frequently asked questions, but panels are skilled in drawing out weaknesses or problems, or more positively, what the students may consider to be excellent parts of their educational experience that the school has not highlighted.

How do you think the business school sector will evolve over the next three to five years?

The big challenge for business schools is coming to terms with the impact of new technology and new learning methods. During accreditation visits following the Covid lockdown, I was struck by the often-differing opinions of faculty and students.

Faculty tend to enthuse about the return to the ‘gold standard’ of face-to-face teaching. When speaking with students, however, they typically say they would appreciate more online learning even in full-time programmes. I have come to the conclusion that many of the older generation of faculty lack an understanding of how the younger generation of students use technology to acquire knowledge and learning.

Many schools are coming to terms with this and are embracing blended and online learning, but for the ones that don’t, market forces may impact them, given that MBA students almost always have a choice of where to study. AMBA has an important role to play in supporting the changes while maintaining excellence.

The impact of AI is a challenge throughout education, as is the trend towards demand for so-called ‘stackable’ qualifications in postgraduate business programmes. AMBA is ideally placed to draw on the experience of the most dynamic business schools worldwide in order to provide advice and guidance to the whole sector.