European Quality Improvement System
The EFMD Quality Improvement System (EQUIS) is a school accreditation system. It specializes in higher education institutions of management and business administration, run by the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD). As of October 2014, EQUIS has accredited 149 business schools in 40 countries around the world.
History
EQUIS was created in 1997 under Gordon Shenton and the current director is Michael Osbaldeston. In the past 17 years of existence the organization has accredited 149 institutions in 40 countries.
Object of the accreditation
The accreditation is awarded to business schools based on general quality. The process also takes into account the business school's level of internationalization, which is not a strict requirement for accreditation by the other two major international accreditation bodies: AACSB and AMBA. So far all fully accredited EQUIS business schools applying for AACSB accreditation have succeeded, which has not been the case the other way.