One in five students worldwide studies business and 40 per cent of those students are in Asia. There are more than 5,000 institutions in Asia awarding business degrees with numbers continuing to grow rapidly. Asia is now officially threatening the United States as the MBA and higher education capital of the world.
But of those 5,000-plus faculties and teaching institutions, less than 150 are accredited to any formal set of standards and quality measurement.
That alone is a good reason why the world's largest business school accreditation organisation, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), recently set up an Asian regional office. Founded in 1916, the AACSB accredits 568 schools across 33 countries, and maintains a membership of about 1,200 business schools and major companies throughout 71 countries.
John Fernandes, president and chief executive of the AACSB, said the new Asia headquarters would serve to strengthen his organisation's membership, professional development and accreditation services in the region.
'Our intention in Asia is to spread accreditation to advance the quality of management education. That's our mission. We also do research, data collection and reporting. All of these services we're bringing to Asia.'
The office is designed to help with the convening of members and the growth of membership, and to assist schools going through the accreditation process.