Deakin University business courses receive international seal of approval

Deakin University’s flagship business courses continue to achieve international quality benchmarks.

The MBA and Bachelor of Commerce offered through the Deakin Business School have both been reaccredited by the European Foundation for Management Development’s international accreditation system—a prestigious mark of the quality for the two programs.

The reaccreditation comes on the back of the prestigious international university ranking analysts Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) ranking the Deakin MBA in the world’s Top 20 online MBAs, and the best in Australia. The MBA also holds a QS international five-star rating. It is recognised amongst students and employers as a quality program.

The Executive Dean of Deakin Business School, Professor Mike Ewing, said the reaccreditation was welcome recognition of the commitment to offering students a quality education with an international outlook, enabled by cutting edge technologies.

“Continuing to have the European Foundation for Management Development’s (EFMD) accreditation shows that we deliver on our promises and will reassure our students, potential students and industry that our programs really are of a global standard,” Professor Ewing said.

“The reaccreditation is just reward for the work of the Deakin Business School to continuously improve the quality of its education, research and community engagement.

“Continuous improvement must be a mantra in any business school that seeks to be globally competitive. Our challenge is to continue to improve all that we do to build on our competitive position on the global stage, a challenge that we welcome and are well placed to achieve.”

The EFMD’s European Program Accreditation System (EPAS) evaluates, and accredits, the quality of business and management programs that have an international perspective. It is a rigorous review of a range of aspects of each program including market positioning, design, content and delivery, delivery on stakeholder requirements, internationalisation and student outcomes.

Professor Kim Watty, Associate Dean (Quality Standards and Accreditation), Deakin Business School, said the renewed Deakin MBA and Bachelor of Commerce were designed to enhance opportunities for employment and career development, which was favourably looked upon by the EFMD.

“We have embedded across both programs the opportunity for students to learn about ethics, sustainability and corporate responsibilities on a global scale. This was a key factor that the EFMD look for when accrediting the programs,” Professor Watty said.

“The EFMD also commended the Deakin Business School on its approach to blended learning, saying it was ‘truly excellent and they have developed an ‘always on’ community of learning with true blended learning’. They also noted that the School has put in place a wide range of innovative teaching and learning developments across a range of programs.”

Deakin’s MBA and Bachelor of Commerce were first EPAS accredited in 2013.