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RISEBA the only school of higher learning in Latvia to earn EPAS accreditation

BC, Riga, 03.07.2014.Print version
Riga International School of Economics and Business Administration (RISEBA) is the first and only school of higher learning in Latvia to earn three-year accreditation by the prestigious European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) Program Accreditation System (EPAS) for its undergraduate programme „European Business Studies”, informs the director at RISEBA communications division Sanita Buciniece.

EPAS recognition in the Baltic States was granted to only one more school – Lithuania’s Baltic Institute of Management.

 

EPAS is an international programme accreditation system operated by EFMD. It aims to evaluate the quality of any business and/or management programme that has an international perspective and, where high quality is noted, grant accredition. The process involves a review in depth of individual programmes through international comparison and benchmarking.

 

85 undergraduate programmes, or majors, at 65 schools of higher learning in 28 countries have received EPAS accreditation, among them: University of Economics (Prague), Jönköping International Business School, Sweden Graduate School of Management, St. Petersburg University, Oxford Brookes University, Nottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University.

 

"The evaluation process for EPAS is a lot tougher than the accreditation for undergraduate programmes conducted by the Ministry of Education. Documents had to be submitted on the faculty’s qualifications, research conducted, number of students, etc., to see whether the school is even eligible for consideration. If deemed eligible, the school then must hand in a „self-evaluation.” Here at RISEBA, having cleared the first hurdles, we welcomed the arrival of an international commission, made up of educators and academicians, and one member of the business community. The commission rated whether the self-evaluation was justified, and whether the school’s performance, keeping in mind the finest in Europe, meets international standards,” RISEBA Rector, Professor of Economics Irina Seņņikova, explained, adding that the entire process had taken about five years.

 

Here in Latvia, in rating universities, their „international” status is commonly looked upon as those with signed cooperation agreements with foreign schools, but for EPAS accreditation, this is not enough. „Of course, RISEBA has cooperation agreements with over 90 foreign counterparts, but EPAS strictly looks at whether students are in fact guaranteed international experience during their studies, internships abroad, harmonized international standards, notoriety of professors and lecturers, and inclusion of educators from other countries. Just as important is the number of foreign students, who are enrolled for the full undergraduate programme,”said Seņņikova, and underlined, that RISEBA successfully met all of the above criteria.

 

EFMD experts have high praise of the positions on the job market subsequently taken by the graduates of „European Business Studies”. EPAS accreditation means that RISEBA graduates are suitably prepared for international-level work.

 

A key aspect here is that the EPAS accreditation will boost RISEBA’s efforts in international cooperation, because the most prestigious world business colleges cooperate only with those whose major programmes have receieved the highest acknowledgment and accreditation. Professor Seņņikova is convinced that the EPAS stamp of approval will be a boon to attraction of more foreign students; at this time, they are 10%, but RISEBAs goal for the future is 25%.

 

The Professor makes it clear that the „European Business Studies” department’s accreditation would never have occurred, were it not for the high marks the entire school had received.

 

RISEBA reports that it plans to re-apply for EPAS accreditation when the three-year validity expires.






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