Successful EQUIS re-accreditation
The Business School has achieved EQUIS re-accreditation for a further five years, continuing our distinguished record of accreditation since 2004.
We are delighted to announce that the Business School has achieved EQUIS re-accreditation for a further five years, continuing our distinguished record of accreditation since 2004. This marks our fifth successful review, reinforcing our position among the elite group of globally accredited business schools.
The Peer Review Team's response was exceptionally positive, with several areas of our operations being rated above the EQUIS standard.
Key highlights include:
1. Programme Innovation and Management: The review team
highlighted the excellence of our programme management and administration, praising our clear governance framework of Subject Area Leads, Programme Directors and Leads, Boards of Studies, and Associate Deans. Our programmes received particular recognition for innovative developments in online teaching, technology integration, and flipped classroom approaches, while effectively incorporating contemporary issues such as sustainability, AI, and business analytics.
2. State-of-the-Art Learning Facilities: The review team highlighted our specialist teaching facilities, including the BNZ Financial Trading Room equipped with Standard & Poor's Capital IQ Platform and the Te Ahi Hangarau Technology Hub featuring advanced technologies.
3. Research Excellence: The review celebrated our research achievements, noting that around 50% of publications by core faculty over the last five year period appear in A* and A-ranked journals. The team commended our strategic support for researcher development, particularly noting our Early Career Researchers' Committee and the newly launched Mid-career Researchers Development Programme. They also praised our research centres' contributions to addressing global challenges and our A* Accelerator Programme for supporting high-quality publications.
4. Student Success: Our students were recognised for their "high level of achievement and subsequent employment". The team specifically praised our commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion, particularly highlighting our "impressive" focus on supporting Māori and Pacific students.
5. Teaching Quality: The review praised our pedagogical innovation and systematic approach to education. As noted by the team, "Teaching formats and stages of education are well thought through, with great awareness of learner progression and completion rates." They particularly commended our approaches to relational teaching, thematic integration, and practical learning through facilities such as our MakerSpace.
6. Industry and Alumni Engagement: The review team commended our strong connections with industry and highly engaged alumni community. They noted the numerous examples of collaboration between the School and the business community, praising the quality of our students' participation in projects and internships. Our alumni were recognised for their significant career success and active involvement with the School through guest lectures, mentoring support, and student club activities. The team particularly noted how the business community praised our faculty's responsiveness in incorporating emerging industry needs into the curriculum.
The following areas were specifically rated as performing above the EQUIS standard:
- Strategic process
- Programme design
- Quality of students
- Quality of core faculty
- Academic research
- On-campus facilities and learning environment
- International alliances and partnerships
The review reinforced our position as "the leading business school in New Zealand with respect to size, diversity of disciplines, academic research, quality of its faculty, and its research-led teaching programmes".
This achievement reflects the collective efforts of our staff, students, alumni and industry partners in maintaining excellence across our activities, and provides a strong foundation for our continued development as a world-class business school.