Europe, Middle East, and Africa Accreditation Conference

Join us for a welcome message from the Conference Chair, Ron Tuninga, AACSB International’s VP and Managing Director, EMEA, and AACSB International’s Stephanie Bryant, Executive VP and Global Chief Accreditation Officer.

In this panel session presenters will share the various ways they’ve implemented sustainability practices and efforts at their institution. Join this session to come away with an expanded vision of sustainability and what it can look like in your institution. Consider how to conduct conversations and undertake transformative projects in your organization.

The right collaboration between business schools and organizations in the community can help change the world. Learn how the American University in Dubai’s partnership with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction is making an impact on sustainability and resilience projects. Presenters will share what it takes to establish a global partnership and how to ensure the partnership is beneficial for both sides. Learn continuous improvement strategies to keep enduring and productive relationships.

Effective and efficient management of a risk register is vital to the success of any organization. Presenters will offer advice about managing the risk process proactively, with examples, and give participants the opportunity to engage in discussions about the nature of risk and the difficulties of deciding how mitigating actions may reduce the likelihood and impact of a risk. Presenters will also provide an in-depth exploration of the most common hurdles faced by business schools along with potential solutions. Join us to transform risk management from a daunting task to an integral part of your institution's strategic plan.

This session will introduce benchmarking: understanding your data in the context of your strategy as well as the performance of those other institutions in your peer and competitive networks. Learn how to start the journey to bring benchmarking into your decision-making toolkit - including processes, data and case studies of effective use in practice to benefit student performance.

How do you ensure your strategic plan evolves over time and doesn’t stay stagnant? How do you shift from an old strategic plan to a new strategic plan without disruption? In this session presenters will share best practices for refreshing a strategic plan, as well as how to transition between strategic plans successfully and key factors to consider.

Please note this photo opportunity is by invitation only.

If you have an upcoming Initial Accreditation visit in the next two years, this session is for you! We invite you to bring questions related to the initial accreditation process, and we will discuss how to prepare for a visit, how to manage a visit, and what to do when the unexpected happens.

If you have an upcoming Continuous Improvement Review (CIR) visit, this session is for you! This session provides attendees with an opportunity to ask Stephanie Bryant, EVP and Global Chief Accreditation Officer, and Suzanne Mintz, Vice President of Accreditation, your specific questions on the CIR process, visit planning and execution strategies, 2020 standards, and more.

Presenters in this session will share a roadmap for developing a societal impact plan and one school’s societal impact strategy, including their goals and impact measures focused on the betterment of society. Join this session to consider how your institution can identify your own societal impact focus areas, and develop the impact measures that will show whether your goals are being achieved.

Presenters will discuss the challenges that can occur during the accreditation process by sharing examples from their own experiences in initial and continuous improvement review visits. Learn how to overcome obstacles and hear how presenters faced unforeseen challenges at their institution.

Join IE Business School representatives for a tour of the new building on campus! Attendees interested in joining the tour are asked to meet near the conference check-in. After the tour concludes relax and enjoy the company of your colleagues before the conference gets underway.

All mentors and interested volunteers are invited to join this session to hear reflections from experienced volunteers and mentors. We will discuss the value obtained from their experiences, learnings that surfaced in the field, and the process to get involved.

Indirect measures of outcomes achievement prove useful in providing evidence of how students meet learning outcomes. In contrast to direct measures, indirect measures of student learning are viewed to provide a less concrete picture of student learning and achievement. However, they have an important role in curriculum management and improvement, whether seen as supplementary to direct measures or as a sole source of student learning evidence data. In this session, using data from a study that is underway, the presenters will examine the role, contribution and complementary power of indirect measures, the perception of business schools of their use and how they interpret them, and their influence on curriculum improvement. Presenters will also provide practical suggestions for business schools on how to better embed them in their program improvement and other quality assurance frameworks.

Are business schools delivering the value they promise? Is the world better for having business schools in it? How can schools continue to Lead Boldly in the midst of rapid and complex social, economic, and technological change? AACSB's Executive Vice President and Global Chief Accreditation Officer, Stephanie Bryant, will lead this keynote discussion and share key insights from AACSB's position paper on the value proposition of business schools and companion Pathways to Innovation Guide. Geoff Perry, Executive Vice President, Global Chief Membership Officer & Managing Director of Asia Pacific, will join the conversation to share how schools in the EMEA region can leverage innovation and their unique strengths to deliver on their value proposition.

In this session presenters will share their experiences in how the accreditation process impacted their institution’s culture during and after. They will also discuss how governance is impacted during the accreditation process.