Joint accreditation

AMBA & BGA joint accreditation emphasises the importance of an institution's overall impact and value creation for students, employers, and communities, with a focus on responsible management, while maintaining the same level of rigour found in AMBA's accreditation of post-graduate business programmes.

Joint accreditation is only available to current AMBA accredited schools, allowing them to undertake a whole school accreditation quality assurance process.

Achievement of joint accreditation allows institutions to demonstrate the quality of their programmes, their responsible management practices, and positive impact on stakeholders across the entire school, as well as within their MBA.

Who can apply for joint accreditation?

Only current AMBA accredited institutions can apply for AMBA & BGA joint accreditation. The joint process is designed for schools who already hold AMBA accreditation and are looking to add BGA to their portfolio. (In exceptional circumstances, institutions new to both AMBA & BGA can apply for joint accreditation provided they meet all the eligibility criteria.)

Why go for joint accreditation?

Joint accreditation allows the school to utilise an accreditation system that it is familiar with and translate it to the entire school's activities, while providing unique insights into its overall impact and responsible management initiatives. Schools also submit an additional sample programme outside the MBA for further analysis which will provide specific ideas and recommendations for development and continuous improvement. This is all undertaken in a streamlined manner that greatly reduces the impact on the school's resources - both in terms of time and cost.

Undergoing a joint accreditation means that institutions need only one visit of highly experienced assessors, and combines required documentation from the two accreditations, thus reducing the amount of administrative work and tasks.

Schools who undergo AMBA & BGA joint accreditation can expect the following:

• Feedback on how the business school can improve its value proposition
• Suggestions on improvement against responsible management practices
• An analysis of an additional flagship programme (undergraduate or postgraduate) offered by the school, offering suggestions on alignment with best practice and internationalisation standards
• Accreditation that covers the full business school, which is marketed and promoted by AMBA & BGA's various thought leadership channels
• Free access to the BGA student and graduate membership and career services for all students and graduates of the business school
• Streamlined documentation and reporting, resulting in less workload for two accreditations
• A 50% fee reduction for BGA accreditation

Fees

The AMBA & BGA joint accreditation fee is £23,500 GBP, which consists of:

• £16,000 for the AMBA assessment
• £7,500 for the BGA accreditation

The joint accreditation fee does not include travel and accommodation expenses related to the final assessment visit.