Master's Programme in Finance at HSE-St. Petersburg Receives EPAS Accreditation
The European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD), one of the world's largest professional associations in the field of business and management, has awarded the Master’s Programme ‘Finance’ at the HSE in St. Petersburg an accreditation for a period of three years. This is the first Master’s programme in Russia to be accredited by the EFMD.
The EFMD evaluates educational programmes within the framework of five key criteria. These criteria include programme design, which should meet market requirements; programme delivery and operations (including the quality of the teaching and student intake); programme outcomes and post-graduation career paths; and programme mechanisms for quality assurance. In addition, the program is evaluated within the context of the institution: the foundation evaluates the extent to which the programme is built into the university’s development strategy and is provided with resources.
‘The EPAS [EFMD Programme Accreditation System] is one of the most prestigious international accreditations in business education. These accreditations, along with university rankings, are becoming an important indicator of quality in the international educational market. They are also a criterion for inclusion in the leading rankings of business education, such as that of the Financial Times,’ noted Sergey Kadochnikov, Director of the Higher School of Economics campus in St. Petersburg.
In October 2018, a team of international experts visited the programme and assessed its quality on the basis of documents and interviews with participants of all aspects of the educational process: from university management to graduates and corporate partners. After their analysis of the programme, the EFMD experts decided to grant the Master’s Programme ‘Finance’ EPAS accreditation for a three-year period.
The HSE St. Petersburg Master’s programme in Finance is the first programme in Russia to receive this accreditation. In the past EPAS accreditation has been granted to Bachelor’s programmes at Lomonosov Moscow State University andUral Federal University, and St. Petersburg State University is EQUIS-accredited.
‘Receiving international accreditation is a very important stage in our ongoing work on programme development,’ said Elena Rogova, Academic Supervisor of the Finance programme. ‘Accreditation in itself is a kind of “mark of quality” certifying a programme’s compliance with all international requirements. It is important for establishing partnerships with leading universities and business schools, as well as for attracting both Russian and foreign students. Accreditation is just one step of the big process that is necessary for ensuring that our activities within the programme and the school at large meet international standards.
During the accreditation process, some “areas for improvement” were identified, and we will be giving these areas serious attention. And we will continue this work not only within the framework of the programme, but also throughout the entire School of Economics and Management, for which we are also planning to receive institutional international accreditations.’
The EPAS (EFMD Programme Accreditation System) was launched in 2005 by the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD). Today, a little over 100 educational programmes are EPAS-accredited.
The EFMD is one of the leading international associations of business schools. It brings together more than 900 organizations from 88 countries. EFMD members include Wharton, INSEAD, IMD and other leading business schools in the world, as well as major corporations, including IBM, Microsoft, ArcelorMittal, and L’Oréal. The activities of the association are aimed at the qualitative exchange of the best practitioners in the field of education, science, as well as the granting of international accreditations to the best business schools and management faculties.
The Programme ‘Finance’ is an English-language Master's programme of the St. Petersburg School of Economics and Management of HSE. It has existed in its current form since 2013. The academic partners of the programme are the ESSCA School of Management (France), the IMESS consortium led by University College London, and the QTEM network. Earlier, the programme was accredited by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) in the area of ‘Financial Management’.
Sergey M. Kadochnikov
Elena Rogova
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