TBS Obtains 4th EQUIS Accreditation

FOR THE MAXIMUM FIVE-YEAR TERM

The European Quality Improvement System (EQUIS) has renewed TBS’s accreditation for the maximum duration of five years. This fourth re-accreditation is proof of the soundness of the business school’s academic and international strategies. With additional accreditations from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) and the Association of MBAs (AMBA), the Toulouse-based school confirms its position in the very select 1% of business schools that hold the triple accreditation.

The highest distinction in Europe

The EQUIS label is awarded by the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) which evaluates management schools according to the highest international quality standards. For TBS students, this label certifies the academic and teaching level offered by the school. The label is based on specific criteria concerning the school’s governance and strategy, courses, research and the quality of the teaching body, as well as its international dimension and ties with the business world. Worldwide, fewer than 200 business schools have been awarded the EQUIS label.

“This fourth consecutive accreditation is valid for the maximum five-year period and sends a strong message to all TBS stakeholders. It is evidence of the quality of our school’s academic position and its ability to constantly reinvent itself. The EQUIS auditors highlighted our faculty’s level of academic qualification and publications, as well as our investment and results in terms of pedagogical innovation and international development. This renewed accreditation is a great source of satisfaction and motivation for the entire TBS staff, who all worked together on its success. This award honors our institution as a whole and our innovation-centered culture.”
— Stéphanie Lavigne,TBS Dean

EFMD Hails TBS Strategic Objectives

The conclusions of the audit conducted by the European accreditation teams hailed the three pillars that lie at the basis of TBS’s strengths and attractiveness as a business school:

The excellent reputation of its faculty

The EQUIS auditors acknowledged the efforts made over the past five years to further increase the school’s teaching staff and its overall academic level. TBS now has 108 permanent professors, compared to 91 in 2014, 95% of whom hold PhDs and almost 25% of whom have received the HDR qualification to direct research, the highest degree of academic qualification in France.
They also highlighted the significant volume of publications by teacher-researchers and encouraged the school to continue in this direction by further capitalising on TBS’s areas of expertise: aerospace and mobility, artificial intelligence and business analytics. The “Aerospace & Mobility” and “Artificial Intelligence & Business Analytics” research clusters were created early 2019 and will play a key role in driving research and teaching at TBS in coming years.

The school’s commitment to and results in terms of pedagogical innovation

The significant investments made and the commitment of all TBS stakeholders are key to ensure the quality of the school’s educational offer. The auditors also repeatedly expressed their interest in the new teaching methods and systems that are tested at TBS, as well as to the innovative infrastructure of the Toulouse campus. The KUBE, the TBS Learning Lab, which was inaugurated in January 2018, is the most concrete example of this.

International presence and reach

The internationally oriented TBS campuses in Barcelona, London and Casablanca as well as the coordination of their teaching staff are among the school’s greatest strengths and make TBS stand out from its competitors. Thanks to its campuses abroad, the school is able to develop a broad range of international partnerships while diversifying its pool of students and teacher-researchers. Today, 31% of the graduates of the TBS Bachelor’s program are foreign students, which rate reaches 33% for the Master’s program.