I was looking at different MBA programs in Switzerland and I found the full-time MBA program offered by SBS Swiss Business School to be interesting. However, my main concern is the lack of accreditation of this school by the 3 main accreditation agencies: AACSB (US), AMBA (UK), and EQUIS. SBS is accredited by IACBE, an agency that is not recognized by the US Department of Education. I don't even know if the school's MBA program is recognized within Switzerland.

I would appreciate any additional information about SBS especially from current and former students who have completed the MBA program there. The program at this school looks good but what's the point of attending SBS if it does not offer a legitimate recognized degree.
Any feedback would be appreciated.

Best Regards

Accreditations: ACBSP, IACBE, CHEA
Member of AACSB and others

Anyone can *join* the AASCB. The point of attending SBS is: you can't get into a better MBA, don't want one or are ignorant of the difference. I can't see any basis for attending SBS if you can be admitted to an accredited MBA, or even to an MAS from a real Swiss university. The ETH, HSG, EPFL and HEC, for example, are very impressive with state university prices.

PS SBS is not listed on the CHEA database: http://www.chea.org/4DCGI/chea/search/institutions.html?Action=chea&chea_activity=institution_search&MenuKey=main

In terms of the most relevant accreditations for MBA programs, AACSB, EQUIS, and AMBA are the most important. This school has none of those.

Following are three major accreditation bodies.

AACSB - Only 5% of the world's business schools (IVY league) has this accreditation.

ACBSP (Next highly rated) which SBS Swiss Business School is having

IACBE and BAC - SBS has these two accreditations as well.

In no way is ACBSP the 'next highly rated' sponsorship after AACSB. In terms of reputation, methodology, and selectivity, AMBA and EQUIS are in the same ballpark as AACSB.

The other accreditations are meaningless, in my opinion.

BAC isn't even a higher education accreditation body.

The idea that the AACSB is just for the Ivy League is ridiculous. Less than one percent of accredited schools are in the Ivy League.

Just to come back to the discussion on ACBSP, as far as I can see ACBSP and IACBE are linked businesses. They have the same founder and have mailing addresses a couple of blocks away in the same small Kansas city, Overland Park. I am struggling to find any school that has ACBSP but not also IACBE.

PS It may be a two-for-one offer?

[Edited by Duncan on Aug 20, 2019]

This is what the wording says on ACBSP's site:

ACBSP: Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs is an accreditation agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. This organization accredits a broad spectrum of business schools. Its standards are high and its emphasis in on faculty that is experienced in their field of instruction, among other requirements. The group is a specialized accreditor for business programs. Specialized accreditation granted to regionally accredited institutions that have business schools.

IABCE: International Assembly for Collegiate Business Education. IACBE is an outcomes-based programmatic accreditation in business. It is an accreditation agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Specialized accreditation granted to regionally accredited institutions that have business schools.

The wordage suggests that they are related but I can't for the life of me find a connection between the two on either of their websites. It is a bit odd that they share a founder and mailing address.

I don't see why they would want to go into that in their websites.

For the sake of transparency?

LOL.