Warm congratulations to College of Business, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics (SUFE), China, and Curtin Business School, Curtin University, Australia, for their initial EQUIS accreditations.

Alfons Sauquet, Quality Services & EQUIS Director, congratulated the schools by saying: ‘Congratulations to both institutions, who are, thanks to their commitment to excellence, actors of international relevance. We are happy to see the schools’ continuous quality improvement in crucial areas of development and their ongoing advancement.’

The College of Business, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics is well-positioned in the Chinese market thanks to the quality of their students, its excellent connections to practice, and a solid body of faculty which is academically robust and productive in research.

Fuqiang Zhang, Dean, College of Business, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics (SUFE), commented: ‘We are happy and proud to receive the prestigious EQUIS accreditation and join the international EQUIS community. We also appreciate the rigorous accreditation process that provides an extensive review of the College of Business, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. This accreditation is a recognition of our significant efforts to offer excellent teaching, research, and services that satisfy the highest international standards. At the same time, we are firmly committed to continuous improvement in the future by using the feedback from the accreditation process.’

Curtin Business School enjoys its international attractiveness, particularly at the undergraduate level. The Curtin Business School is a clear leader in this regard in Western Australia. The University’s governance of its offshore campuses is exemplary, setting the standard both nationally and internationally.

Nigel de Bussy, Dean, Curtin Business School (CBS), said: ‘Curtin Business School (CBS), is absolutely delighted to gain five-year EQUIS accreditation. The news is a wonderful way to end a challenging year. The accreditation enables us to look forward to 2021 with renewed optimism. CBS has had a long connection with EFMD. Our multi-year journey towards EQUIS accreditation has directly driven numerous improvements in quality at our school. This is the real value of accreditation. Of course, we are very happy about the external recognition also! My thanks go to the entire EQUIS team who could not have been more supportive throughout the process – especially in the lead-up to the Peer Review Team visit in this most unusual of years.

EQUIS – EFMD Quality Improvement System – is a rigorous tool for business schools to assess, accredit and improve their quality in ten key areas, benchmarking them against international standards in terms of governance, programmes, students, faculty, research, and foremost, internationalisation, ethics, responsibility and sustainability, as well as corporate engagement.

It offers not only a quality assessment but also a quality improvement process, very much rooted in the mission of EFMD. True quality is about continuing to strive to do better, even when you are already excellent, and this focus on continuous improvement is thus at the heart of the EQUIS mission.

EQUIS attaches particular importance to the creation of effective learning environments which foster students’ managerial and entrepreneurial skills alongside their personal development and sense of global responsibility.

There are currently 191 EQUIS accredited schools across 45 countries globally. More information is available on efmdglobal.org/equis.