History Of European MBA

In 1957, INSEAD became the first European university offering the MBA degree, followed in 1959 by ESADE, ICADE in 1960 (who had started offering in 1956 a "Technical Seminary for Business Administration") [16], IESE (first two-year program in Europe) in 1964, UCD Smurfit Business School in 1964, Manchester Business School and London Business School in 1965, The University of Dublin (Trinity College), the Rotterdam School of Management in 1966, the Cranfield School of Management in 1967 and in 1969 by the HEC School of Management (in French, the École des Hautes Études Commerciales) and the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris. In 1972, Swiss business school IMEDE (now IMD) began offering a full-time MBA program, followed in 1974 by AGH University of Science and Technology in Cracow, Poland. In 1991, IEDC-Bled School of Management became the first school in the ex-socialist block of the Central and Eastern to offer an MBA degree. Because of technology advances, distance or online MBA programs have recently emerged in Europe. Several business schools in the United Kingdom now offer distance MBA programs. In 2007, ESCEM became the first French Business school to offer their own distance or online MBA. See List of business schools in Europe

Bologna Accord

In Europe, the recent Bologna Accord established uniformity in three levels of higher education: Bachelor (three years), Masters (one or two years in addition to three or four years for a Bachelor), and Doctorate (an additional three or four years after a Masters). Students can acquire professional experience after their initial bachelor degree at any European institution and later complete their masters in any other European institution via the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System.

Accreditation

Accreditation standards are not uniform in Europe. Some countries have legal requirements for accreditation (e.g. most German states), in some there is a legal requirement only for universities of a certain type (e.g. Austria), and others have no accreditation law at all. Even where there is no legal requirement, many business schools are accredited by independent bodies voluntarily to ensure quality standards.

Austria

In Austria, MBA programs of private universities have to be accredited by the Austrian Accreditation Council (Österreichischer Akkreditierungsrat). State-run universities have no accreditation requirements, however, some of them voluntarily undergo accreditation procedures by independent bodies. There are also MBA programs of non-academic business schools, who are entitled by the Austrian government to offer these programs until 2010 (Lehrgang universitären Charakters). Some non-academic institutions cooperate with state-run universities to ensure legality of their degrees.

Czech Republic

January 1998 saw the first meeting of the Association of the Czech MBA Schools (CAMBAS). The Association is housed within the Centre for Doctoral and Managerial Studies of UEP, Prague. All of the founding members of the Association have their MBA programs accredited by partner institutions in the United Kingdom or United States of America.

Finland

In Finland, as in most countries, MBA does not have the status of official degree. MBA programs are run by various universities including the top universities in the country.

France and French speaking countries

In France and in the Francophone countries such as Switzerland, Monaco, Belgium, and Canada, the MBA degree programs at the public accredited schools are similar to those offered in the Anglo-Saxon countries. Most French Business Schools are accredited by the Conférence des Grandes Écoles, which is an association of higher educational establishments outside the mainstream framework of the public education system.

Germany

Germany was one of the last western countries to adopt the MBA degree. In 1998, the Hochschulrahmengesetz (Higher Education Framework Act), a German federal law regulating higher education including the types of degrees offered, was modified to permit German universities to offer master's degrees. The traditional German degree in business administration was the Diplom in Betriebswirtschaft (Diplom-Kaufmann; Master's degree equivalent) but since 1999, bachelor's and master's degrees have gradually replaced the traditional degrees (see Bologna process). Today most German business schools offer the MBA. Most German states require that MBA degrees have to be accredited by one of the six agencies officially recognized by the German Akkreditierungsrat (accreditation council), the German counterpart to the US-American CHEA. The busiest of these six agencies (in respect to MBA degrees) is the Foundation for International Business Administration Accreditation (FIBAA). All universities themselves have to be institutionally accredited by the state (staatlich anerkannt).

Italy

Italian MBAs programs at public accredited schools are similar to those offered elsewhere in Europe. Italian Business Schools are accredited by EQUIS and by ASFOR.

Poland

There are several MBA programs offered in Poland. Some of these are run as partnerships with American or Canadian Universities. For example, the CEMBA program is run by the Warsaw School of Economics and the University of Quebec at Montreal, Warsaw-Illinois Executive MBA (WIEMBA) run as partnership of University of Warsaw and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Ukraine

Recently MBA programs appeared in Ukraine where there are now about twenty schools of business offering a variety of MBA programs. Three of these are subsidiaries of European schools of business, while the remaining institutions are independent. Ukrainian MBA programs are concentrated mainly on particulars of business and management in Ukraine. For example, 2/3 of all case studies are based on real conditions of Ukrainian companies.[17]United Kingdom

The UK based Association of MBAs (AMBA) was established in 1967 and is an active advocate for MBA degrees. The Association's accreditation service is internationally recognised for all MBA, DBA and Masters in Business and Management (MBM) programs. AMBA also offer the only professional membership association for MBA students and graduates. UK MBA programs typically consist of a set number of taught courses plus a dissertation or project.