The Toulouse Business School is one of the few French institutions who were granted the EQUIS Label.

What is EQUIS?
Definition given by the European Foundation for Management Development:

EQUIS is the quality assurance scheme run by the European Foundation for Management Development (efmd) as a service to the management education profession worldwide.

EQUIS is the leading international system of quality assessment, improvement, and accreditation of higher education institutions in management and business administration. Its fundamental objective, linked to the mission of the efmd, is to raise the standard of management education worldwide. EQUIS facilitates standard setting, benchmarking, mutual learning, and the developing across borders of good practice.

EQUIS is European in its inspiration and global in its scope. Europeans have designed it and Europeans from a broad range of countries manage it. It is also European in as much as it is based on a certain number of European values and practices. Its scope, however, is global in that it provides an excellent framework for assessing quality in highly diverse institutional and cultural contexts.

EQUIS considers that diversity is a value to live with and protect and that there is no « one best model » for a Business School. The objective of EQUIS is not the standardisation of degree programme formats, of course content, or of strategic choices. It accepts that each country has its own traditional approach to business education and that the length, design, content and learning objectives of programmes will differ from one country to another, and even sometimes within countries. Furthermore, EQUIS is not primarily focused on the MBA or any other specific programme. Its scope covers all programmes offered by an institution from the first degree up to the Ph.D. In summary, EQUIS is founded on the principle of recognising diversity and the strengths of different approaches to higher education in management.

EQUIS has established its prestige and recognition worldwide. In its first five years of existence, EQUIS accredited some 50 institutions in 14 European countries and another 10 outside Europe in countries like Australia, Brazil, Canada, Hong Kong, Mexico, South Africa, or the United States. Among the institutions that are currently involved at some stage of the EQUIS process, more than half are from outside Europe, with spontaneous applications from all five continents.

The EQUIS Quality Label is intended to provide recognition beyond the domestic environment to institutions that, in addition to satisfying high quality standards in their national market, are also credible in the international arena. Institutions that are accredited by EQUIS must demonstrate not only high general quality in all dimensions of their activities, but also a high degree of internationalisation. As an international accrediting body, EQUIS does not just reconfirm national accreditation, but seeks to identify institutions that are distinguished by an added international dimension. With companies recruiting worldwide, with students choosing to get their education outside their home countries, and with schools building alliances across borders and continents, there is a rapidly growing need for them to be able to identify those institutions in other countries that deliver high quality education in international management. EQUIS has proven to be a very effective tool in this respect.

EQUIS assesses institutions as a whole. It assesses not just degree programmes but all the activities and sub-units of the institution, including research, e-learning units, executive education provision and community outreach. Institutions must be primarily devoted to management education.

EQUIS looks for a balance between high academic quality and the professional relevance provided by close interaction with the corporate world. A strong interface with the world of business is, therefore, as much a requirement as a strong research potential. EQUIS attaches particular importance to the creation of an effective learning environment that favours the development of students’ managerial and entrepreneurial skills, and fosters their sense of global responsibility. It also looks for innovation in all respects, including programme design and pedagogy.

EQUIS is dynamic and forward looking with a concern for new trends and developments in management education. It is conceived as a learning process for the whole community in management education and as an international forum for defining the relevant criteria.

EQUIS is supported by a broad international body of academics and professionals. Deans of reputed academic institutions, HR and MD directors of major corporations, heads of national professional associations, consultants, and assessment experts form the pool from which the international peer review teams are drawn