Aiding African MBAs
Ambitious African business schools need foreign support and mentorship to bring their academic standards up to international levels, says Andrew Main Wilson, CE of the international accreditation body, the Association of MBAs (Amba).
The London-based organisation has created a development network for schools whose MBAs fall short of the quality required for accreditation but which hope to be accepted eventually.
The network is an international one but the need for support is particularly acute in Africa. Of nearly 240 accredited MBA programmes around the world, only nine are from Africa — and six of those are from SA. A seventh is understood to be on the verge of accreditation.
The only approved African programmes outside SA are in Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt. Main Wilson, who was in SA last week to visit local schools, hopes two more programmes, in Nigeria and Kenya, will make the step up soon but says other institutions still have some way to go.
SA schools have an important part in supporting African business schools’ programmes, including MBAs and broader executive education.
They make up nearly onethird of the membership of the Association of African Business Schools, which is administered from offices in Pretoria University’s Gordon Institute of Business Science.
Main Wilson says the Amba consultancy network is drawn from deans around the world. He adds: “They are particularly anxious to offer their services to schools in Africa.”
Amba’s African emphasis is part of a broader international effort to improve business education on the continent. The European Foundation for Management Development is stepping up its activities, while a joint venture between the UN and business-related academic institutions — Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) — is also showing interest. Main Wilson is PRME’s chairman.
However, he says Western schools must offer their services guardedly, for fear of appearing to impose their ideas. Nigerian academics have complained in the past of “lack of respect” from some foreign academics.
Main Wilson says: “There is no question of educational colonialism. We simply want to help. But we have to be aware of sensibilities.”
He recognises that a Western MBA syllabus cannot be imposed on African students. “We believe in localisation of content and context. Schools should aspire to teach the best of local and international.”