Date: 7th Nov 2011 “IVth International Accreditation Conference 2011 of SEAA”

Mr. Kamal Puri-President, Skyline University College (SHARJAH-U.A.E) and Mrs. Sheelu Puri, Director-Skyline Business School (INDIA) attended the IVth International Accreditation Conference 2011 of SEAA at PHD House, New Delhi. The basic aim was to increase the interaction of international accrediting agencies with Indian B-schools to build quality in the campuses on a sustainable basis.

The conference showcased six accreditation agencies- AACSB International, Association of MBAs, ACBSP, IACBE, British Accreditation Council and South Asian Quality Systems (SAQS) along with the National Board of Accreditation (NBA) of AICTE who had provided their unstinted support to the conference. The Tranformational & developmental role of accreditation was also emphasized. Some of the debate at the conference centered around building a consortium approach to international accreditation in India. The need for developing a cadre of Indian faculty trained in international accreditation processes was reemphasised at the conference & the accreditation agencies were urged to train a select group of faculty in their processes to help iron out difficulties in the initial accreditation processes cutting across the agencies. The participants agreed that the awareness and advocacy campaign of SEAA has to continue as quite a large number of schools were not aware of the benefits of opting for independent assessment of quality.
Besides the agency process presentation, the conference also had nearly 20 speakers making their contribution to the debate at the panel discussion and also at independent accreditation sessions. The conference also brought together the representatives of other stake holders in the management education in India such as All India Management Association (AIMA), Association of Indian Management Schools (AIMS) and Education Promotion Society of India (EPSI). Elements of the new National Board of Accreditation (NBA) were also discussed.