The accreditation recognises Henley Africa’s work in making education accessible, relevant and vital, says Jon Foster-Pedley.
Henley Business School Africa has become the first business school to be accredited by the Association of African Business Schools (AABS).
This was announced on 25 September in Lagos, Nigeria, and has made Henley Africa, the first business school on the continent to be quadruple accredited.
“Becoming the inaugural business school to be awarded the AABS certification – on top of the triple crown – is highly significant,” said Henley Africa dean and director, Jon Foster-Pedley.
“First and foremost this certification recognises Henley Africa as a fully-fledged business school in its own right, rather than as a branch of Henley UK – it’s an amazing affirmation of a journey that began just over 10 years ago with a staff of five in a single office to a complete campus occupying an entire office park in northern Johannesburg with a staff more than 90 and a satellite campus in Cape Town.
“African education is truly coming of age. AABS has created an accreditation process based on the strictest parameters from AACSB and EFMD models. African education as a whole is finding its voice, standards and stature in its own right, and this means that we can confidently collaborate to build better business education across Africa.”
Jon explained that the accreditation also recognises Henley Africa’s work in South Africa and the continent to decolumnise and decolonise education by making it accessible, relevant and vital, especially within the context of building back better after the ravages of the worst public health crisis in living memory.
He added that the AABS certification was an incredibly rigorous process, “And my very deep gratitude is due to our faculty and staff here in South Africa, as well as our colleagues in the global Henley community who helped, inspired and taught us and to the AABS for their very professional and appropriately challenging process.
“I am proud of what Henley Africa has achieved. This assessment was of Henley Africa itself rather than Henley global and really demonstrates what our faculty and staff achieved. They can rightfully be enormously proud of this,” he concluded.
