PRODUCT

The GPS is a powerful management tool for business school executive teams. It enables you to zoom out and see how your School is performing, on what matters most, all at a glance. It is designed specifically for deans and managers of accreditation.  It is easy to do, yet rich with insight and rigorously validated.

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Highly Validated Framework and IP

Together with the input of countless deans from around the world we have identified, modeled and weighted the most influential factors in leading and managing successful business schools. The GPS accurately and efficiently benchmarks your School against these factors. Your report is based on the responses provided by your School and is designed to provide an indication of the strength of your institution across 10 areas of operation: The issues covered within the Business School GPS ® are broadly comparable to those examined under many of the systems of international and independent business school accreditation, from bodies such as AACSB International, EFMD and the Association of MBAs (although the nature of the questions and the points of focus of the Business School GPS ® are unique). Essentially we have taken the key elements of the top 4 major accreditations and synthesised them to develop a platinum standard.

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Practical Dashboard

The Survey and Timeframe

We know that your faculty’s time is valuable.  To be the basis of strategic decisions, however, your dashboards need to be highly validated and our system methodologically rigorous. So we have designed the survey process to be easy and efficient yet highly accurate. The surveys do not look at people’s performance but, rather, at broader functional areas.  We begin, by discussing with you, your organisational structure and identifying just the right people to survey.  We tailor the surveys to different functions and typically involve around 15 of your staff.  On average the surveys take less than 2 hours to complete online although some will be significantly shorter, depending on their function.  The survey is all multi-choice and both the questions and response options have been carefully worded to ensure that your staff can respond easily based on current knowledge. Once we receive the completed surveys online, which will usually take around 1-3 weeks, we get to work synthesising and distilling all the data into your individual, unique and confidential report.  Putting together these insights, dashboards, conclusions and recommendations will typically take 3 weeks.  Your report will be sent directly to you and only those who you have nominated.

The Sophisticated GPS Methodology

The Business School GPS ® has been developed using a methodology that synthesises two decades of experience, to create a set of indicator areas; carefully-framed questions; and response options. Over 50 different areas of operation across 10 different indicator sectors are examined and over 200 discrete School-level issues and 180 programme-level issues are analysed, with in excess of 1,200 weighted response options. The Business School GPS algorithms take your School’s responses, and calculates your GPS positioning against any indicator on a continuum ranging from very weak to very strong. The GPS also positions the school’s performance against a best practice level for each indicator. Further algorithms then provide a cost and time graph illustrating the likely impact of addressing any relative weaknesses both in terms of the overall costs involved and the timeframe likely to be needed to move from the school’s current positioning to a GPS position of best practice or above.

Each multi-choice question and each of the answer options has been carefully framed, to ensure that the GPS is methodologically rigorous. The weightings algorithm is based on 20 years’ business school advisory and consulting experience, working with numerous schools across the world on their mission, strategy, resourcing and accreditation issues (including AACSB, EQUIS, EPAS, AMBA and CEMS accreditations). The positioning and best practice levels are based on experience and knowledge of highly-regarded, internationally accredited institutions, of various sizes and with varying missions. These institutions include triple accredited business schools and schools with operations and programmes ranked among the best globally within various acknowledged school rankings systems (such as those operated by the Financial Times).

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Business School GPS?

The Business School GPS is at its heart a management tool for business school executive teams. It allows those responsible for the management of the organisation to see at a glance how it is performing against international best practice across the most important areas of operation. This is applicable whether a school is looking at pursuing accreditation or not. However, for those schools for whom international accreditation is an ambition, the Business School GPS can additionally provide initial guidance on areas of strength and weakness against the accreditation in question.

What accreditation systems can be examined?

Where desired, the Business School GPS looks at your School in terms of the main international business school accreditation standards, being those operated by AACSB International; the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD); and the Association of MBAs (AMBA).  A school can choose to have its overall School-level operations analysed against AACSB or EQUIS. Additionally it can choose to examine the operations of individual programmes against either AMBA (for MBA programmes) or EPAS.

What are the indicator areas analysed by the Business School GPS?

The Business School GPS analyses your School over more than 50 different areas of operation across 10 different indicator sectors. In excess of 400 discrete School-level and programme-level issues are analysed, with in excess of 1,400 weighted response options. The current indicator areas are as follows:

  • Commitment to Ethics, Responsibility & Sustainability
  • External Applied, Practice and Industry Linkages
  • Programmes & Programme Delivery
  • Quality Assurance
  • Research & Scholarly Activities
  • School Commitment to Internationalisation
  • School Mission, Governance and Environment
  • School Resourcing – Faculty
  • School Resourcing – Professional Supports
  • Students

Does the Business School GPS take account of changes to accreditation standards?

Yes. One of the strengths of the Business School GPS is that it is regularly amended and updated to take account of changes to the accreditation standards, as well as to developments in the experience of the GPS team and to user feedback.

Is the Business School GPS going to take significant time to complete?

No. The questionnaires that are at the heart of the Business School GPS have been designed so that they can be completed without any individual requiring to undertake any significant additional work. The GPS is an initial diagnosis and self-analysis tool and your staff members who are involved in the process should be able to respond based on their current level of knowledge. In general, it is unlikely that any individual would need to spend more than 2-3 hours completing their questionnaires, and in most cases the time required would be significantly less than this.

Does the GPS provide a guarantee of eventual accreditation success?

It is important to note that the accreditation dashboards within the Business School GPS provide a subjective opinion based on the responses received and the experience of the Business School GPS development team.  There is, however, a significant degree of subjectivity in any accreditation decision and the GPS report cannot present a definitive judgement regarding the eventual outcome of any accreditation application or process.  For more detailed analysis of your School’s position against any accreditation you are advised to conduct a detailed accreditation gap analysis.