Recently, the DBA (Doctor of Business Administration) program at China Europe International Business School (Switzerland) officially received EFMD (European Foundation for Management Development) accreditation, making it the first DBA program globally to achieve this recognition. This accreditation represents a high endorsement of the quality of CEIBS' DBA program, further consolidating the school's leading position in international management education and establishing a new benchmark for Chinese doctoral business education.
Founded in 1972, EFMD is the largest international organization in management development academia. Its mission is to enhance global management education standards and share best practices while providing authoritative accreditation for management education programs. EFMD accreditation serves as an international passport for business school excellence, with global business schools taking pride in obtaining EFMD recognition. In 2004, CEIBS successfully obtained EFMD's EQUIS (European Quality Improvement System) accreditation, pioneering international accreditation among mainland Chinese business schools.
The accreditation received by CEIBS' DBA program is "EFMD Accredited," an international business program quality assessment, improvement and accreditation system established by EFMD. Achieving this accreditation means the program operates at an internationally leading level in strategy, teaching, student development, and social impact.
Wang Hong, President of CEIBS, stated: "We are tremendously excited that CEIBS DBA has become the world's first DBA program to receive EFMD accreditation. This is not only high recognition of the program's academic excellence and innovative spirit, but also an important milestone in CEIBS' development. Standing at the planning year for our 15th Five-Year strategic plan, the school will use this as an opportunity to continue deepening the integration of management practice and theoretical innovation, supporting economic and social development, promoting progress in Chinese and global management education, and working tirelessly toward building the school into one of the world's most respected international business schools!"
Dominique Turpin, President (European Side) of CEIBS, commented: "We are thrilled by this wonderful news. This recognition is not only an acknowledgment of CEIBS but also brings new vitality to the global doctoral business education field. Based in China, this global center of economic growth and innovation, we particularly look forward to further promoting deep exchanges of management thought and integrating more Chinese management wisdom and practices into global dialogue."
For this accreditation, EFMD expert panels conducted comprehensive reviews of CEIBS' DBA program, covering core dimensions including institutional strategy and management, faculty, curriculum design, program implementation and operations, program outcomes, and quality assurance. In this accreditation process, CEIBS' DBA program performed exceptionally well in multiple areas, with the following indicators rated as "Above Standard":
- Availability of resources to implement the strategy - Adequacy of faculty: qualifications, size and subject profile - Faculty intellectual contribution (i.e., research inputs) to teaching - Individualized learning support from faculty
The report noted that the faculty team is a significant advantage of CEIBS' DBA program. With their international backgrounds, outstanding research leadership, and deep understanding of both Chinese and Western business environments, the professors ensure the DBA program maintains both academic rigor and professional practical value.
Frank Bournois, Vice President and Dean of CEIBS, explained: "The faculty strength is the most crucial pillar for CEIBS DBA to achieve this accreditation. Our professor team not only continuously produces research and cases that provide insights into cutting-edge business trends, but also maintains close and unique interactions with business leaders—these leaders therefore choose to join the CEIBS DBA program. With this excellent faculty team, the school continuously promotes deep integration of knowledge creation and management practice—this accreditation is high recognition of this far-reaching influence."
Zhu Tian, Vice President and Chinese Dean of CEIBS, added: "This accreditation is high recognition of CEIBS' DBA program and full affirmation of the school's knowledge creation and teaching capabilities. CEIBS continues to leverage its international education advantages, constructing a high-quality and contemporary curriculum system that cultivates numerous talents with both Chinese depth and global breadth for China's and the world's economic and social development."
The diversity of teaching modalities also left a deep impression on the review panel. Beyond solid core courses and cutting-edge elective courses, the report specifically mentioned the Applied Research Conference (ARC) innovatively designed by CEIBS' DBA program. It creates a diverse exchange platform where students can choose different types of conferences according to their research fields, engage with different stages of thesis processes, and interact across grades and disciplines with DBA students from different cohorts to jointly explore potential research directions, gradually refine research concepts, and ultimately complete their dissertations.
Xin Rong, Associate Dean (European Affairs) and Director of CEIBS DBA Program, stated: "Receiving EFMD accreditation is high recognition of CEIBS DBA program's quality and international impact. We will continue to maintain high standards and strict requirements, integrate Chinese and Western wisdom, promote bidirectional empowerment of management theory and practice, and cultivate more scholar-entrepreneurs with thought leadership and practical influence for the global business community."
Huang Yuchang, Academic Director of CEIBS DBA Program, noted: "Seeing our curriculum design philosophy receive high recognition from the review panel, I believe every professor on the academic committee feels proud. I think the core lies in our truly achieving deep integration of cutting-edge theory and real business practice, constructing diverse cross-grade exchange platforms and internationally-oriented overseas modules. These carefully designed elements together form CEIBS DBA's unique learning ecosystem."
The report also highlighted that student composition is a major strength of the program. CEIBS DBA program enrolls approximately 35 students per cohort, with over 150 students to date. Most students hold core senior management positions such as CEO, managing partner, and company founder. This high level of seniority ensures classroom discussions and research remain closely connected to practice while making interactions extremely substantive. During accreditation, the review panel also randomly observed two thesis defenses and was impressed by the research depth and rigor of the defending students.
Wang Taiyuan, Associate Director of CEIBS DBA Program, shared: "Student growth has always been the core goal and value of our curriculum design. What particularly gratifies me is the review panel's high recognition of our students, both affirming their continuous efforts during the learning process and demonstrating their significant progress in theoretical exploration and practical innovation. In the future, we will continue to provide them with more open and diverse learning platforms, and look forward to seeing them demonstrate more Chinese wisdom and management strength in promoting global sustainable development."
CEIBS' DBA program is a "pinnacle project" that the school has invested "heavy assets" to create. The program aims to build bridges between academia and business, cultivating "thinkers in the business world." It brings together a group of outstanding business leaders and key policy makers, 100% from core decision-making levels, with an average age of 47 and over 19 years of average management experience. The program spans 4 years, with the first two years for coursework and the latter two for research and dissertation. CEIBS DBA's first cohort achieved an on-time graduation rate exceeding 80%.
CEIBS DBA Class of 2025 will commence in October this year, and recruitment for CEIBS DBA Class of 2026 has officially begun. If you also have "pursuits higher than success," we look forward to your journey with us!
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