BRUSSELS, April 27, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- EFMD would like to warmly congratulate:

EBS Business School, EBS Universitat fur Wirtschaft und Recht, Germany
Faculty of Management, Economics & Social Sciences, University of Cologne, Germany
IESEG School of Management Lille-Paris, France
Yonsei University School of Business, Korea
School of Management, Zhejiang University, China

who have just been awarded EQUIS accreditation. This takes the number of accredited schools to 138 across 38 countries.

Prof. Julio Urgel, the EFMD Director of Quality Service said, "We are delighted to welcome 5 more leading international schools into the EQUIS community. Accreditation from EFMD is one of the best and most complete ways to certify the actual quality of a business school as accreditation involves an extensive self-assessment by the school, the visit of an international review team who spend several days interviewing many different people in the School, and finally a very experienced jury evaluating the assessment and findings of the review team to determine whether the School should be granted accreditation. There are currently no substitutes for such an in-depth assessment of quality and the new schools who have been accredited should be commended for their commitment to excellence."

"The faculty of the School of Management, Economics & Social Sciences is very proud that the School has been awarded the prestigious EQUIS accreditation. This accreditation acknowledges the efforts of all members of the school to transform it successfully into a competitive, international business school. And it encourages us to continue striving for excellence in research and education," said Prof. Dr. Werner Mellis, Dean, School of Management, Economics & Social Sciences, University of Cologne.

"We are proud and honored to be rewarded with the prestigious EQUIS accreditation. This is for us an extremely important recognition and a fantastic starting point for further development of new international programs and partnerships, recruitment of international students and faculty and improving the placement of our students on a worldwide level," said Dr. Jean-Philippe Ammeux, General Director, IESEG School of Management Lille-Paris.

"We are extremely proud to have achieved EQUIS accreditation. This prestigious achievement reflects the hard work and dedication of our faculty toward providing our students with a world-class education and honors us with inclusion among the world's elite institutions. The accreditation process has been a journey, not a destination, because the insights gained in the peer review will continue to guide us as we build on this achievement," said Prof. Dr. Sang Yong Park, Dean of Yonsei University School of Business.

"We have benefited enormously from being a part of the EFMD international network as the global membership base has helped us learn a great deal from other members. Because of the work of EFMD and the value gained from going through the EQUIS process, we are much more confident now in our educational strategy of Global Perspective, Innovation Capability, Entrepreneurial Spirit, and Social Responsibility, which makes the school unique," said Prof. Dr. Xiaobo Wu, Executive Dean, Zhejiang University School of Management.

"EQUIS accreditation confirms our reputation of being one of the leading Business Schools in Germany and will in return increase the attractiveness for international students and faculty. The accreditation confirms the excellence of our teaching and research, the international orientation of our programs with its strong focus on personal development, the broad executive education program portfolio and the strong practical focus due to our broad corporate network," said Prof. Rolf Tilmes, Dean of EBS Business School.

More information on EQUIS is available at www.efmd.org/equis.

EFMD advances excellence in management development in Europe and worldwide by building links between leading business schools and companies, creating and disseminating knowledge on best practices and changing trends and providing access to benchmarking tools and accreditations (EQUIS, EPAS, CEL, CLIP). With more than 750 member organizations from academia, business, public service and consultancy in 82 countries, EFMD provides a unique forum for information, research, networking and debate on innovation and best practice in management development. http://www.efmd.org

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SOURCE EFMD.org