What is Triple Crown accreditation?
Triple Crown Accreditation – what is that? Accreditation is a process of independent quality assurance, carried out to determine whether an organisation or a specific programme (for example, the MBA,EMBA or MiM) meet recognised standards of excellence. Accreditation has to be renewed, approximately every five years. If a business school has achieved the Triple Crown, you can be sure that this is an up to date evaluation of the educational quality. The term Triple Crown means that the business school has been accredited by the three biggest and most influential business school organisations in the world:
– AMBA in the UK
– EQUIS in Europe
– AACSB in the US.
Obviously, if a business school is accredited by each of these three major bodies, it can boast of having the Triple Crown.
It is interesting to see that, this year for example, a number of accredited business schools have lost their accreditation. This gives applicants the confidence to know that their chosen Triple Crown business school was, and is, outstanding. At the time of writing, 2022, only 1 per cent – approximately 108 global business schools – have been granted Triple Crown Accreditation.
Why does Triple Crown Accreditation matter?
The degree to which Triple Crown accreditation matters depends to a large extent on where you are studying and where you hope to find work.
Employers in Europe and the UK look very favourably on individuals who have been studying in a Triple Crown accredited business school. The same is not necessarily the case in the US. It has two Triple Crown accredited institutions: Hult Business School, with branches all over America, and Olin Business School at Washington University in St Louis. This does not imply that American business schools are poor. They rather do not meet the acceptance criteria demanded by some of the accreditation bodies. In addition, American employers tend to focus on where you studied. It means that someone who went to Harvard Business School will find the door to their new career partially open even before they have walked through it for an interview. Brand name rather than Triple Crown accreditation is key to finding work in the USA. In contrary, this is not the case in Europe.
Where can I study at a Triple Crown accredited business school?
Denmark
Copenhagen Business School
Aarhus University
Finland
Aalto University
Hanken School of Economics
France
Audencia
EDHEC
Emlyon Business School
ESC Rennes
ESSCA School of Management
ESSEC Business School
Grenoble School of Management
HEC Paris
ICN Business School
IESEG School of Management
INSEAD
KEDGE Business School
La Rochelle Business School
Montpellier Business School
NEOMA Business School
Toulouse Business School
Germany
European School of Business and Technology
Frankfurt School of Business and Management
Mannheim Business School
TUM School of Management
Ireland
Trinity Business School
University College Dublin School of Business
University of Limerick Business School
Italy
SDA Bocconi
MIP Polytechnic of Milan
The Netherlands
Maastricht University School of Business and Economics
Rotterdam School of Management
Amsterdam Business School
Norway
BI Norwegian Business School
Norwegian School of Economics
Spain
ESADE Business School
IE Business School
IESE Business School
Sweden
Lund School of Economics and Management
School of Business, Economics and Law, Gothenburg
UK
There are 23 Triple Crown accredited business schools in the UK:
Leeds University Business School
London Business School
University of Exeter Business School
Lancaster University Management School
University of Edinburgh
Kent Business School
University of Birmingham Business School
Manchester Metropolitan Business School
University of Newcastle Business School
Adam Smith Business School, Glasgow
Loughborough University School of Business and Economics
The Open University Business School
Aston University
Bradford University School of Management
Bayes Business School
University of Strathclyde Business School
Cranfield School of Management
Sheffield University Management School
Durham University Business School
University of Manchester alliance Business School
University of Reading Business School
Imperial College Business School
Warwick Business School
Why are the world’s best business schools not all Triple Crown accredited?
Oxford and Cambridge (ranked 5th and 11th respectively in 2022) have outstanding business schools, and yet they have not decided to get accreditation from all three bodies, and therefore do not have a Triple Crown. Oxbridge knows that their name alone provides Said and Judge Business School with the cachet needed to impress employers, and both have opted for EQUIS accreditation.
In addition, a quick skim through the rankings will show you that the majority of the leading business schools in the world are in the US. As we noted above, brand is much more important than Triple Crown Accreditation in America, so they too believe that their rankings and their name are sufficient to attract the brightest and the best applicants. However London Business School tops the global rankings in 2022, and it is, of course, Triple Crown accredited.
Triple Crown Accreditation – is it worth?
It is clear that the best way for deciding which business school to apply to is to use a two-pronged approach. Firstly, look at the rankings. If you want to apply to the US, you may also be interested in Forbes’ analysis of costs and years-to-payback analysis, The Best Business Schools List , which looks at the leading American business schools, the tuition fees they charge and how your salary increases pre and post-MBA, in order to work out how long it will take you to recoup what you have spent.
When it comes to the UK and Europe, you are spoilt for choice and have to do less research, since Triple Crown accreditation demonstrates the quality of the course, the teaching, the resources and the program as a whole. You can safely be guided by the listings and all that remains is to check whether the course is taught in English.
And this where Elab can step in, to help you!
