Evaluation Conducted by Panel of Experts

On 12 and 13 July, Wittenborg was visited by a panel of experts responsible for reaccrediting the school’s Bachelor in Business Administration (BBA) programme. The panel, consisting of six members from different institutions, was established by the Foundation for International Business Administration Accreditation (FIBAA) – an international accreditation agency – and approved by the Accreditation Organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders (NVAO).

During the process, both NVAO and FIBAA reaccreditations were conducted simultaneously. This is an advantage to the school because by assessing different criteria, these processes complement each other and offer more comprehensive feedback. Additionally, Wittenborg’s special feature of Quality in Internationalisation was also assessed for the renewal of the school’s accreditation by the European Consortium for Accreditation in Higher Education (ECA).

At the Final Feedback session, conducted on Thursday, 13 July, the preliminary observations made by the panel were very positive, underlining Wittenborg’s efforts in maintaining the high quality and internationalisation standards of its BBA programme. In the coming months, the panel will prepare their final report, and after FIBAA’s approval, the document will be submitted to NVAO in November 2023, to substantiate the organisation’s final decision on the programme’s reaccreditation. 

Wittenborg Assurance of Learning Manager Kriszta Kaspers-Rostás explained that reaccreditation processes must be conducted every six years. According to her, in addition to the NVAO accreditation – which is a national requirement that the school must fulfil – Wittenborg has been pursuing international accreditations. These accreditations, such as FIBAA’s or AACSB’s, aim to further enhance the school’s academic standards and overall quality.

“At Wittenborg, we have a quality system, described in the Quality System Handbook, in which all our processes are explained in detail and, most importantly, they are embedded in a structure which is called the PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, Act). Based on the PDCA, each work process has a flowchart, and we make sure to bring in any updates and changes. In all systems and processes this structure assures that all operations are carried out in the spirit of continuous improvement in line with WUAS’s mission and vision. By sticking to these principles, we make sure that the institution is continuously evolving, improving and maintaining high standards of quality, which are assessed during the (re)accreditation processes,” Kaspers-Rostás stressed.

Evaluation Procedures

The reaccreditation process involved a presentation on the structure, classification and goals of the study programmes as well as panel interviews with the programme management team, the staff responsible for internationalisation, students and graduates. Moreover, external stakeholders, lecturers and administrative staff were also interviewed, and the panel was given a tour of the school’s facilities at the Brinklaan and Spoorstraat study locations in Apeldoorn. 

Following specific criteria defined within the standards of NVAO and FIBAA, the evaluation comprehensively assessed multiple aspects of the BBA programme. These included its objectives, admission requirements, content, structure and didactical concept, as well as the academic environment, framework conditions, quality assurance and documentation.

WUP 21/7/2023
by Ulisses Sawczuk
©WUAS Press