The EQUIS accreditation is awarded by the EFMD’s EQUIS Accreditation Board. In its response, the EQUIS Accreditation Board concludes that since the last visit in 2014, Aarhus BSS has initiated and completed a number of activities to further the collaboration between business and social sciences. The EFMD encourages Aarhus BSS to strengthen these efforts. The board also highlights the high quality of the school’s academic and administrative staff and the talented students. Dean Thomas Pallesen is pleased that the EFMD also acknowledges the high quality of Aarhus BSS and that it sees great potential in the school’s organisational structure:

“The accreditation is a seal of approval of our ambition to exploit the potential of our strong research bases in both business and social sciences, but also of the interface between the two,” he says. “And this is an ambition that I and the rest of the faculty management team look very much forward to developing further in the years to come. Not just because the EFMD recommends it, but because we believe that - in several ways - it is a very good idea.”

“Getting to where we are today has been a long process. After a number of meetings with the EFMD during the past years, we were aware that it could be a challenge for the EFMD to extend the accreditation to cover the entire school. During the whole process, we have maintained our belief in the core idea that the strong research bases at Aarhus BSS are the foundation for creating meaningful collaborations across disciplines. We knew that it would be a gamble, but we were true to our identity throughout,” says the dean. “I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has contributed to the process and who has helped achieve this great result.”

What is next?

Aarhus BSS must develop an annual status report which describes the school’s efforts in selected areas identified by the EFMD as development goals for the accreditation period. The next EQUIS accreditation visit takes place in autumn 2020.