ISM to go for the prestigious EQUIS accreditation
ISM University of Management and Economics is starting an improvement project for its quality management system with a view to receiving EQUIS, the world’s leading accreditation of business schools. The new quality management system will be launched with the help of support from the EU Structural Funds in the amount of LTL 1.5 million. The project will be completed in January 2013
“The EQUIS accreditation is our
strategic goal; it is the highest quality label for business schools, a
demonstration of international recognition. The path to the
accreditation is long and will require continuous effort and much
investment,” the ISM Rector Dr. Nerijus Pačėsa says. According to the
Rector, a quality assurance system meeting global standards and the best
practices will allow attracting more Lithuanian and foreign students
and will contribute to the development of high profile higher education
in Lithuania.
The quality management system will
cover all levels of the University: institutional, study programmes, and
study subjects. To reform its quality management system, the University
will analyse its internal processes, study the experience of other
universities and explore ways to upgrade the internal quality assurance
system in line with the University’s mission, vision and strategy. The
project’s final stage will be dedicated to revising and updating the
University’s quality policies and developing, in line with the EQUIS
standard, a quality assurance manual to document critical quality
assurance processes, tools and instruments.
According to Ms Jolita Butkienė, ISM
Director for Quality, the ongoing improvement of the quality system goes
in parallel with transformations in higher education: universities are
increasingly shifting over to the European Credit Transfer System,
refocusing their study programs on the development of competences,
integrating study results into quality assurance systems. “Quality
assurance is impossible without quality-driven culture fostering the
University’s values, ability to change and excel, be socially
responsible and accountable before social partners,” Ms Butkienė says.
The University will involve all
stakeholders into its quality improvement effort: lecturers,
administrative staff, students, alumni, and employers.
The assessment for the EQUIS
accreditation will be conducted by EFMD, an international association
based in Brussels which unites over 730 members from 82 states. The
assessment will look into performance of the institution as a whole and
of its individual units: study programs, scientific and applied
research, executive studies, services to the community,
internationality, students’ and the faculty’s competencies, resources,
and relations with business community. At present, the EQUIS
accreditation has been awarded to 130 research and study institutions
worldwide, forming the elite of higher schools in management and
business administration.
