AMBA re-accreditation cements Kingston Business School's position among international elite

Posted Monday 12 February 2018

Kingston Business School's MBA, MSc in International Business Management and DBA have once again received prestigious accreditation from the Association of MBAs (AMBA).

AMBA was founded in 1967 by MBA graduates and accreditation by the network provides the benchmark for the highest quality standards in postgraduate business education. The achievement marks more than thirty years of unbroken AMBA accreditation for Kingston University's MBA programme since it first received the award in 1984 – confirming its status amongst the top business school educators in the world.

Staff, students and alumni were interviewed last autumn during a two-day assessment visit carried out by the team of independent AMBA assessors comprising deans and directors from international business schools. The re-accreditation was awarded earlier this month, with the full and part-time MBAs in Kingston and Moscow, the MSc in International Business Management and the Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) all now AMBA accredited for the maximum five-year period until 2023.

Kingston Business School has received prestigious AMBA re-accreditation for three of its main postgraduate courses.Dean of Kingston Business School Professor Ron Tuninga – who is himself an AMBA panel member – said he was proud of the whole Business School community which had contributed to securing the quality accolade. "This is a reflection of the exceptionally high standards we set ourselves and provides the ultimate endorsement of our staff, students and alumni network," he added.

The AMBA award follows the Business School's AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) accreditation in 2016 and the EPAS re-accreditation of the MSc International Business Management by the European Foundation for Management Development – EFMD – last year. "We are now part of a select group of institutions that can boast accreditations from all three major Business School validation bodies," Professor Tuninga explained.

Head of Accreditation and Standards at Kingston Business School Tania Easton believes commendation from these bodies helps to attract a high calibre of business professional. "We are in a competitive market with a number of institutions offering postgraduate business education," she said. "Being externally validated by reputable organisations gives prospective students confirmation that Kingston Business School will provide excellent support with the development of their careers."

Alnur Dhanani is the founder and chairman of Carebase – a company which develops care homes in the South East of England. He completed his MBA at Kingston University in 1999 and agreed that the AMBA accreditation had been a major draw.

"There were so many universities offering MBA programmes it was really hard to choose but I was advised by a colleague that I should only choose an AMBA-accredited institution as that would guarantee it was of a verified high standard," he said. "I'm so glad I chose Kingston Business School as I had full confidence that what I was learning was relevant and would be helpful for all my future enterprises."

As an AMBA panellist, with assessments on more than 50 business schools worldwide under his belt, Professor Tuninga said that Kingston Business School's longstanding association with AMBA placed it in a strong position to benefit from the network's insight and business acumen.

"On a simple level, AMBA is an audit process that makes sure business schools are meeting the required standards," he said. "However, it goes far beyond that, helping institutions to keep abreast with developments in UK industry and update their practices in line with current business thinking."