Thammasat Business School wins EQUIS accreditation

In today's ever-changing business education market, international accreditation serves as a symbol of outstanding recognition for educational quality.

Accreditation is a challenging, yet rewarding, process that most, if not all, business schools strive for to obtain a global reputation that they have accomplished a certain standard of education. It has been a crucial mandate for business schools around the world, especially in Asia, to raise the standard of management education toward a world-class level.

Thammasat Business School (TBS) last month received the EQUIS (European Quality Improvement System) accreditation for a period of three years, making it only the second Thai business school to be awarded such status by the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD). The first was Chulalongkorn University's Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration.

TBS has joined an elite circle of EQUIS-accredited university-level business schools worldwide. Fewer than 1 per cent of the world's 13,000 business programmes have earned such accreditation.

EQUIS-accredited schools are recognised for producing graduates who are highly competent, internationalised, professional and more desirable to employers than non-accredited schools. This is regarded as the way to build a global brand of business schools over time.

"We are very honoured and proud to have achieved the EQUIS accreditation for the first time since the establishment of Thammasat Business School," said Associate Professor Dr Kulpatra Sirodom, the dean of TBS. "This prestigious accreditation acknowledges the culmination of collective team efforts from all faculty members, international scholars, students, staff, alumni and corporations that are key levers to this exceptional recognition.

"In 2012, the EQUIS Awarding Body voted to confer the EQUIS accreditation label upon TBS for a period of three years. That makes TBS the only Thai business school accredited at both undergraduate and graduate levels," Kulpatra said.

EQUIS is a global school accreditation system run by the EFMD and specialising in higher-education institutions of management and business administration. It assesses not just degree programmes but all the activities and sub-units of an institution, including research, internationalisation, executive education provision, corporate connection and community outreach.

The accreditation system looks for a balance between high academic quality and the professional relevance provided by close interaction with the corporate world.

"Attaining the EQUIS accreditation involves a great deal of commitment and hard work. This is quite a long, rocky road," said Assistant Professor Dr Somboon Kulvisaechana, director of TBS International Affairs. "The accreditation process takes about two years to complete.

"During the office term of the previous TBS administrations [2005-2009], it was denied the eligibility to enter the EQUIS accreditation process. A school that has failed to obtain eligibility must wait two years before applying again. z "Under the leadership of our dean, Kulpatra, and her management team, TBS reapplied and was granted eligibility in 2010. Then it took almost two years to complete the entire process," Somboon said.