Editing Association of MBAs

{{short description|Educational organization}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2024}}
{{Infobox organization
| name = Association of MBAs
| image = Association of MBAs logo.svg
| image_border = 
| size = 300px
| caption = Association of MBAs
| map = 
| msize = 
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| abbreviation = AMBA
| formation = 1967
| extinction = 
| purpose = Business school accreditation and membership
| headquarters = [[London]], United Kingdom
| location = 
| region_served = Global
| members = {{bulleted list|277 accredited schools|>50,000 members|}}
| language = 
| leader_title = 
| key_people = {{bulleted list|Andrew Main Wilson (Chief Executive)|Bodo Schlegelmilch (Chair of the Board)|}}
| main_organ = 
| parent_organization = 
| affiliations = 
| num_staff = 
| num_volunteers = 
| budget = 
| website = {{url|https://www.associationofmbas.com|associationofmbas.com}}
| remarks = 
}}

The '''Association of MBAs''' ('''AMBA''') is a global organisation headquartered in [[London]], [[United Kingdom|UK]]. It was founded in 1967 with the primary objective of [[accreditation|accrediting]] Master of Business Administration ([[MBA]]) programs.

== Roles ==
Based in London, AMBA is one of the three main global accreditation bodies in business education (see [[triple accreditation]]) and styles itself as the world's impartial authority on postgraduate management education. It differs from [[AACSB]] in the [[United States|US]] and [[EQUIS]] in [[Brussels]] as it accredits a school's portfolio of postgraduate management programmes but does not accredit undergraduate programmes. AMBA accredits approximately 2% of the world's business schools,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mbaworld.com/business-schools/business-school-search/schools-a-to-z|title=Accredited Business Schools A-Z - Association of MBAs|website=Association of MBAs|language=en|access-date=2017-02-15}}</ref> and is the most international of the three organisations having accredited schools headquartered in 54 countries, compared with the 52 for AACSB<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.aacsb.edu/accreditation/accredited-members|title=AACSB-Accredited Schools|website=Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business|language=en-us|access-date=2017-02-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170209002044/http://www.aacsb.edu/accreditation/accredited-members/|archive-date=2017-02-09|url-status=dead}}</ref> and 38 for EQUIS.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.efmd.org/accreditation-main/equis/accredited-schools|title=EQUIS Accredited Schools|last=Pergoot|first=Nick|website=European Foundation for Management Development|language=en-gb|access-date=2017-02-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170227052550/http://www.efmd.org/accreditation-main/equis/accredited-schools|archive-date=2017-02-27|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Business schools can become associated with AMBA by applying for accreditation or by applying to be part of the AMBA Development Network.{{Citation needed|date= January 2022}}

All MBA students and alumni of the [[List of institutions accredited by AMBA|277 accredited member schools]] receive free life-long individual AMBA membership. AMBA also accredits generalist [[Bachelor of Business Administration|BBA]] programmes, [[Master of Business Administration|MBA]] programmes and [[Doctor of Business Administration|DBA]] programmes, and admits as members students and graduates thereof.{{Citation needed|date= January 2022}}

AMBA's long-serving president until 2017 was the late [[Paul Judge|Sir Paul Judge]], the founding benefactor of [[Cambridge Judge Business School]] in Cambridge, UK.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mbaworld.com/about-us/our-people/president|title=President - Association of MBAs|website=Association of MBAs|language=en|access-date=2017-02-14}}</ref> AMBA's current Chief Executive is Andrew Main Wilson,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mbaworld.com/about-us/our-people/chief-executive|title=Chief Executive - Association of MBAs|website=Association of MBAs|language=en|access-date=2017-02-14}}</ref> who joined the organisation from the [[Institute of Directors]] in 2013. Bodo Schlegelmilch was elected Chairman of the AMBA Board of Trustees in 2018.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mbaworld.com/about-us/our-people/board-of-trustees|title=Board of Trustees - Association of MBAs|website=Association of MBAs|language=en|access-date=2017-02-14}}</ref>

== History ==
The Association of MBAs was founded in 1967 as an MBA alumni club by eight [[UK]] graduates from [[Harvard Business School]], [[Wharton School|Wharton]], [[Stanford Graduate School of Business|Stanford]] and [[Columbia Business School|Columbia]], and two graduates from the first intake of [[London Business School]]. The founders saw a lack of awareness in [[Europe]] of the value of the MBA degree, which at that time was primarily an American qualification. They decided to form a lobby and membership group to promote the benefits of postgraduate business education, under the name of '''Business Graduates Association (BGA)'''.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Andreas Kaplan: European Management and European Business Schools: Insights from the History of Business Schools | doi=10.1016/j.emj.2014.03.006 | volume=32 | journal=European Management Journal | pages=529–534}}</ref> The organisation's development helped shape the growth of management education in Europe and the UK and coincided with the setting up and growth of [[London Business School]] and [[Manchester Business School]] in Britain.{{Citation needed|date= January 2022}}

The Association's first Director General was Vice-Admiral [[David Clutterbuck]] who assumed this position in 1969.<ref>Association of MBAs fabulous at forty, Ambition, January 2007 {{cite web|url=http://www.mbaworld.com:81/MBAWorld/jsp/images/knowledge/Ambition_newsletter_jan07_pdf_version.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2011-10-05 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425045432/http://www.mbaworld.com:81/MBAWorld/jsp/images/knowledge/Ambition_newsletter_jan07_pdf_version.pdf |archive-date=2012-04-25 }}</ref> In 1983 BGA began to accredit the growing number of [[MBA]] programmes, while preserving its functions as a membership organization. '''BGA''' was renamed '''Association of MBAs''' in 1987.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.mbaworld.com/aboutus/ourhis1| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110418092226/http://www.mbaworld.com/aboutus/ourhis1| archive-date = 2011-04-18| title = Our History {{!}} Association of MBAs - mbaworld}}</ref> Until 2017, AMBA's president was the late [[Paul Judge|Sir Paul Judge]], who helped establish [[Cambridge Judge Business School]] at [[Cambridge University]] in the early 1990s.{{Citation needed|date= January 2022}}

== Activities ==
=== Accreditation ===
[[File:Scope of business school accreditation for the three main global accrediting bodies AACSB, EQUIS and AMBA.png|thumb|400px|Scope of business school accreditation for AACSB, EQUIS and AMBA]]The Association of MBAs accredits MBA, MBM and DBA degree programmes. When a school  applies for accreditation for its MBA programmes, AMBA requires that the entire portfolio of MBA programmes be put up for consideration and will award accreditation only if all programmes meet its criteria (though the school pays the same fee regardless of the number of programmes being reviewed).

The Association's process of accrediting a school's MBA programmes portfolio includes reviewing compliance AMBA's criteria, most of them qualitative rather than quantitative. The criteria fall into seven dimensions: history and development of the institution; facilities and libraries; teaching faculty, teaching standards and research track record; programme administration, career and alumni services; student admission standards, diversity and cohort size; curriculum content, programme mode and duration; and learning outcomes.

Some of the key AMBA criteria for the accreditation of an MBA programme include:
* all admitted students should have at least three years of full-time post-graduation work experience upon the start of the MBA course (''a criterion which the vast majority of the top US business schools cannot meet as US MBA programmes sometimes admit applicants with only a bachelor's degree and no work experience'');
* a new school applying for accreditation should have a track record of at least three years of graduating MBA students before it can be accredited;
* an MBA programme should have a cohort size of at least 20 students;
* at least 50% of the faculty of an MBA programme (including visiting faculty as part of the total) are expected to have PhD degrees; and
* a full-time MBA curriculum should contain no less than 500 contact (scheduled faculty-mediated) hours and a distance-learning MBA programme should have no less than 120 synchronous contact hours.

===  Events ===
AMBA holds three annual conferences for business school deans and directors:<ref>[http://www.mbaworld.com/bschoolevents Events for business schools - Association of MBAs]. Mbaworld.com. Retrieved on 2013-08-12.</ref> a Global Conference, an Asia Pacific Conference, and a Latin America Conference. Participation is open to both accredited and non-accredited schools. AMBA also hosts an annual Gala Dinner in London, which is open only to accredited schools.{{Citation needed|date= January 2022}}

AMBA organises two annual global forums with the purpose of development and training for specific functions within AMBA-accredited business schools such as accreditation managers; programme managers; marketing, admissions, alumni and development staff.{{Citation needed|date= January 2022}}

AMBA also organises webinars, lectures and networking events on a regular basis catering to MBA alumni, current MBA students, prospective MBA students and business school admissions departments. These on-campus events are held at accredited business schools and often feature distinguished speakers and practitioners in fields such as leadership, entrepreneurship and innovation.{{Citation needed|date= January 2022}}

== See also ==
* [[List of institutions accredited by AMBA]]
* [[Triple accreditation]]
* [[Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business]] (AACSB)
* [[European Quality Improvement System]] (EQUIS)

== Notes and references ==
{{Reflist|2}}

== External links ==
* {{Official website|http://www.mbaworld.com|Association of MBAs official website}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20111021014653/http://www.ambaguide.com/find-an-accredited-programme/schools/ Accredited schools and logos on AMBA's website]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120511173827/http://www.mbaworld.com/press Press releases and latest news on AMBA's website]

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[[Category:Alumni associations|MBA]]
[[Category:Business education in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Higher education accreditation]]
[[Category:Higher education organisations based in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:International college and university associations and consortia]]
[[Category:International organisations based in London]]
[[Category:Non-profit organisations based in London]]
[[Category:Organisations based in the City of London]]
[[Category:Organizations established in 1967]]