Qat Univ Gains Prestigious U.S. Accreditation
The business school of the University of Qatar has joined an elite club of the world’s top business schools.
The College of Business & Economics of Qatar University has been awarded one of the world’s most prestigious accreditations.
Less than 5% of the business schools in the world and only a handful in the Middle East have been given the stamp of prestige that accompanies approval by the Florida-based Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, also known as AACSB International, founded in 1916.
“We are very proud of this accreditation,” Mohammad K. Najdawi, Dean of the College of Business and Economics at Qatar University, told The Media Line. “We received accreditation from AACSB International which is the most prestigious accreditation for business schools anybody can have.”
“Five years ago Qatar University developed what we call a renewal plan for continuous improvement with the help of RAND Corp. and the administration of the Qatar University under the leadership of Professor Sheikh Al-Misnad, the President of the University,” he said. “[We] made a commitment to quality and the first step in that direction was to seek international accreditation.”
Jerry Trapnell, Executive Vice President and Chief Accreditation Officer of AACSB International said the accreditation process is made up of two components.
“Serious self assessment is required,” he told The Media Line. “Schools must set themselves against our standards, expectations and reach some conclusions and make changes to be aligned with our standards.”
“Secondly, it’s founded on peer review,” Trapnell continued. “The work of the review process is conducted by deans of other accredited business schools and there is a distinctive support system with feedback and analysis conducted by the peer review team and committees that involves the school on a substantial basis.”
“Our accreditation is a quality assurance process,” he said. “It focuses on key areas of business schools in terms of quality and a key focus on continuous improvement.”
The AACSB International has 21 standards that a school must fulfill in order to be accepted. According to the organization, the most important criteria is that the school has a clear mission while other areas of importance focus on number and quality of staff, sufficient financial resources and implementation of information technology.
Najdawi said receiving the accreditation involved developing many aspects of the school.
“We went through a process of rigorous internal review, evaluation and adjustment and it took us four long years to complete,” he said. “During those four year we developed and implemented a plan to meet 21 AACCB standards that require a high quality teaching environment, a commitment to continues improvement and a development of a curriculum which is responsive to the needs of business.”
“International accreditation by itself does not mean [we have] everything we want,” he continued. “It really symbolizes what it enforces and it enforces two things. Number one, quality and number two continuous improvement.”
Najdawi pointed out that the business school at the Qatari government-backed Qatar University has an important role to play in establishing Qatar as the financial capital of the region.
“We have been feeding the market with our graduates every year,” he said. “[We] expect to graduate anywhere between 400 to 450 students every year by next year from our undergraduate program alone.”
The economy of Qatar is expected to grow by between 14-18% in 2010 due to upgrades in its natural gas exporting capabilities.
Source: http://www.themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=27941
