The SGH Warsaw School of Economics has earned the EQUIS (European Quality Improvement System) re-accreditation for a further three years. EQUIS institutional accreditation is the leading international system that comprehensively assesses the quality of business schools in each dimension of their operation. It is awarded to the best business schools by the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD).
“Achieving EQUIS accreditation for the first time in 2021 was a great honour for us, as it is one of the two most prestigious accreditations in the world awarded to business schools. Besides SGH, five schools have earned it in Central and Eastern Europe, including two in Poland. We are delighted that we have maintained the highest level and fulfilled all the conditions for re-accreditation,” said SGH Rector, dr hab. Piotr Wachowiak, prof. of SGH.
The Rector thanked everyone involved in this complex and multifaceted process.
“The EQUIS accreditation and re-accreditation process, undoubtedly, contributed to mobilising our academic community. The accreditation was a great honour for us and, at the same time, a commitment to further improvements: in the quality of education, research, and University management. After three years, we rose to the challenge, obtaining re-accreditation for a further three years. EQUIS accreditation places us high among the world‘s leading business schools. As such, we have to continue the process of ensuring that the level is maintained and continuously improved in the above areas,” assessed the Vice-Rector for International Relations of SGH, dr hab. Jacek Prokop, prof. of SGH.
“In May 2024, we hosted the EQUIS accreditation committee on our campus, which was chaired by prof. Konstantin Krotov, Dean of the Skema Business School in the USA,” said Project Manager of the AACSB and EQUIS Accreditation Project, dr hab. Marcin Wojtysiak-Kotlarski, prof. of SGH, from the International Strategies Unit at the Institute of Management of the SGH Collegium of Management and Finance.
The evaluation committee also included prof. Mats Brenner, former Dean of the School of Economics and Management (LUSEM) at Lund University in Sweden, prof. Paul Ballentine, Executive Dean from the University of Canterbury Business School in New Zealand, and representing the business world, Cibel Setinkaya, former partner from Delloite in Turkey.
“The re-accreditation visit is a very big event. Suffice it to say that about 200 people participated in the meetings concerning the EQUIS re-accreditation, including representatives of all stakeholder groups, namely the school authorities, members of the University Board, academic teachers, students of all types of programmes, a representative of the administration, as well as alumni and companies cooperating with SGH,” said prof. Wojtysiak-Kotlarski.
He also stressed: “Undoubtedly, the EQUIS re-accreditation visit was a great success. Indeed, at the meeting summarising the visit in the office of His Magnificence the Rector of SGH, the chair of the re-accreditation committee highlighted a great many of the SGH strengths. As the entire academic community of SGH, we were praised for the systematic development of our University. The above was confirmed by the information we received on 24 September 2024 from prof. Alfonso Saqueta on the EFMD Accreditation Board‘s decision to extend the school‘s accreditation for a further three years.”
EQUIS is a comprehensive institutional accreditation system for business schools. It is acknowledged worldwide by students, faculty, employers, corporate clients and the media, often being a pre-requisite for entry to rankings. Quality benchmark in ten areas, EQUIS accreditation ensures a rigorous quality control, benchmarking a school against international standards in terms of governance processes, programmes, students, faculty, research, internationalisation, ethics, responsibility and sustainability, as well as engagement with business practitioners.
With its broad assessment scope, EQUIS covers all the activities of a school, including degree and non-degree programmes, as well as doctoral teaching programmes, knowledge generation and contribution to the community. As you can read on the EFMD Global website, EQUIS helps schools strive for excellence in an on-going improvement process following each accreditation or re-accreditation visit. EQUIS considers the great diversity of national cultures and educational systems around the world as it is essential to understand the particularities of the local context in every assessment process.
Just over 200 of the world‘s top business schools, including 119 in Europe, have earned the prestigious accreditation, such as the UK‘s London Business School, France‘s INSEAD and HEC Paris, as well as SDA Bocconi School of Management in Italy, Frankfurt School of Finance and Management in Germany, IE Business School in Spain, and University of St. Gallen in Switzerland. In Poland, it was awarded, in addition to SGH, to the Faculty of Management at the University of Warsaw and the Kozminski University.
List of universities from all over the world with EQUIS accreditation
EFMD Global homepage
