ESCI-UPF

“The EFMD Membership Includes ESCI-UPF in the International Learning Community”

EFMD network
Photo: Freepik (macrovector_official) & EFMD Global

The ESCI-UPF lecturer, Lela Mélon, writes about the international education network EFMD Global. She explains what being a member of this network means for our institution and describes the benefits of obtaining an EFMD accreditation.

Certification, not just in terms of certification of business schools and their programmes, is the most efficient and straightforward proxy for quality assurance. If we look at the development of certifications in the framework of private and public markets, they are growing in an unprecedented manner in every instance where assurance of quality is needed and a significant information asymmetry exists. The prestige of certifications available out there, also in terms of accreditations of business schools and their programmes, is crucial to acknowledge the work done for achieving excellence but equally as important to communicate accordingly the high quality of the programmes accredited by those prestigious systems.

The ESCI-UPF’s work has in that manner recently been acknowledged with the membership to the prestigious EFMD programme, endorsing the quality and showcasing the value of our work. EMFD is a global, membership-driven organization, based in Brussels: the largest international network association in the field of management development, as it includes over 900 institutional members and reaches more than 30.000 management development professionals from academia, business, public service and consultancy across 88 countries worldwide.

EFMD is currently the leading international system for quality assessment, quality improvement and accreditation of business and management institutions and schools, and it acts as a catalyst to promote and enhance excellence in management development globally. Its members include IMD, INSEAD, IE, LBS, Wharton, HEC Montréal and many other leading schools from around the world, but also corporate members such as ArcelorMittal, Capgemini, Caterpillar, Ethidad, IBM, L’Oréal, Novartis, Microsoft and Pertamina.

In fact, EMFD programme accreditation is one of the best and the most complete ways to certify the actual quality of a business school. As it covers all facets of programme provision, from its institutional, national, and international environment, through its design, delivery and impacts, and last but not least to its quality assurance processes, it plays a central role in shaping an international approach to management education.

With its emphasis on academic rigour, practical relevance, internationalization, and ethics and sustainability, obtaining the EFMD accreditation is the next goal of ESCI-UPF’s programmes, not only adding a high-level label to them but rather enabling them to enter the international comparison and benchmarking through EMFD’s international peer review team. The EFMD membership includes ESCI-UPF in the international learning community, enabling it to share its best practices but also learn for extensive experience of the institutions in the EFMD programme accreditation. EFMD programme accreditation, therefore, represents a unique forum for information, research, networking and debate on innovation and best practice in management development.

We are very excited to enjoy the discussions that will be carried out with other peers in the framework of the EFMD peer-based network, which allows for synergies not only amongst higher education institutions but rather also the ones between the industry and higher education institutions at joint conferences and events and consider future partnerships.

Furthermore, the variety of workshops available through the EFMD framework will help us build further ambitious future development plans and further our commitment to our international approach to business education, supporting quality in management education globally. With the additional access ESCI-UPF obtained through the EFMD programme membership to industry-relevant research and publications, EFMD research projects and surveys and outcomes of all EFMD events, we will be able to further our ambitious plans and find strategic partners for our current and future projects.

And last but not least, we are very excited that now our students, through this prestigious membership, obtain access to Highered, the first global talent platform connecting companies, top business schools and students, opening the door for them themselves to showcase their excellence to the global business community.

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