Global accreditation leaders visit School
Last month, the University of St Andrews Business School hosted the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)’s Executive Vice-President, Professor Eileen McAuliffe and Vice-President for EMEA Growth and Engagement, Ihsan Zakri, for a two-day accreditation seminar in St Andrews.
AACSB is a global body that sets standards for quality and continuous improvement in business education. Institutions worldwide use its framework to assess how they plan strategically, support staff and students, design programmes, and demonstrate societal contribution.
The seminar formed part of the School’s ongoing engagement with international accreditation standards. It brought together academic and professional staff to explore how global benchmarks translate into strategy, curriculum design, and research impact.
Discussions covered strategic planning, faculty and professional staff resources, curriculum development, and assurance of learning. Assurance of learning is the structured process of defining what students should achieve, measuring outcomes, and using that evidence to enhance programmes. Sessions also examined learner progression, teaching effectiveness, and the impact of scholarship and external engagement.
The programme concluded with an overview of the accreditation process, including both initial accreditation and continuous improvement review.
Professor Mark Brewer, Dean and Head of School, said:
“Conversations like this matter because they sharpen our sense of purpose. Engaging directly with AACSB’s leadership challenges us to think carefully about how we demonstrate quality and impact in everything we do.
“Our goal is to ensure that our teaching equips students to navigate complex global challenges, that our research informs policy and practice, and that our partnerships reflect our global outlook and ambitions. Accreditation provides a shared language and structure for these aspirations, helping us to translate intent into measurable progress.”
