The University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business (GSB) achieved top honours at the recent Eduniversal World Convention 2016, a prestigious event held this year in Perth, Australia, at the Curtin Business School, Curtin University.
It is the ninth year in a row that the GSB has been named the best business school in Africa. GSB Acting Director, Professor Geoff Bick, said the school was honoured to receive the award again, saying it confirmed the school’s status as a top business school in Africa.
“The international recognition of the UCT Graduate School of Business is very important to us and all our stakeholders, particularly our students, executive clients and alumni, to demonstrate the quality of the education they receive at the GSB,” said Professor Bick.
The Eduniversal Evaluation System (EES) ranking is a global ranking and rating agency with its headquarters in Paris. It annually evaluates academic institutions across the globe and business schools from 154 countries participated in this year’s conference. Over 1000 deans and directors from universities from all over the globe gathered for the annual conference and made up the deciding committee for the award.
The aim of the rankings is to inform students and offer useful tools for students, universities and business schools worldwide.
“What makes the Eduniversal award so significant is that we are judged by our peers,” says Saskia Hickey, the GSB’s market intelligence and strategy manager. “The judges are deans and directors of the some of the best business schools in the world and to be recognised by them in this way is a real achievement.”
The GSB is one of just three business schools in Africa to be triple-crowned, meaning it has accreditation from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), AMBA (the Association of MBAs) and the European Foundation for Management Development, which awards the European Quality Improvement System (EQUIS).
While some may believe these accolades are enough, faculty at the GSB are always striving to improve on academic and research output, as well as designing programmes that stimulate the students. “We must create conditions that allow innovative responses to African challenges,” says Professor Bick.
In 2016, the GSB launched various initiatives, among them a Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) on social innovation, to bring about effective change in communities in partnership with The Bertha Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship, a specialised centre based at the GSB
“The school is proudly African and South African,” says Professor Bick. “With a strong focus on emerging markets, we try to equip growing leaders with the tools they need to succeed on the global stage, whilst also fostering growth in the often unpredictable environments of developing countries.”
The school’s leadership will gain further momentum in 2017 when Associate Professor Mills Soko will take up the helm of Directorship at the beginning of the academic year.
“These are exciting times for the GSB,” says Hickey. “We look forward in 2017 to improving on our already outstanding scorecard for 2016.”
