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+---- Thread: European International University (/Thread-European-International-University)
RE: European International University - Eleanor - 02-06-2026
(02-06-2026, 10:01 AM)SteveFoerster Wrote: What value do you think ACBSP and/or IACBE offer under normal circumstances, as in the overwhelming majority of cases where a school has normal institutional accreditation and then has its business programs programmatically accredited by ACBSP or IACBE?
Litte to none. In the EHEA, institutionally accredited institutions by default must also have their programs accredited by the same accreditor (consequently fully recognized). Probably the same case in the US, please correct me if I'm wrong.
ACBSP/IACBE accreditation standards will most definitely even collide with the government accreditation's standards. While complex harmonization and alignment may "pay off" for AACSB accreditation, it most probably won't for ACBSP/IACBE accreditation.
For institutions without institutional accreditation gaining "something" with ACBSP accreditation, this will be at the expense of those students who expect their degrees to be recognized. It cannot be assumed that students are experts in accreditation. And the institutions know that....
RE: European International University - SteveFoerster - 02-06-2026
(02-06-2026, 11:24 AM)Eleanor Wrote:(02-06-2026, 10:01 AM)SteveFoerster Wrote: What value do you think ACBSP and/or IACBE offer under normal circumstances, as in the overwhelming majority of cases where a school has normal institutional accreditation and then has its business programs programmatically accredited by ACBSP or IACBE?
Litte to none. In the EHEA, institutionally accredited institutions by default must also have their programs accredited by the same accreditor (consequently fully recognized). Probably the same case in the US, please correct me if I'm wrong.
That's not at all like the American context. Here the institutional accreditors are different organizations from the programmatic accreditors, so what you're saying about them being the same isn't even possible.
For example, a university might be institutionally accredited by, say, WASC, while its law school is accredited by the American Bar Association and its counseling programs accredited by CACREP. There's no overlap.
(02-06-2026, 11:24 AM)Eleanor Wrote: ACBSP/IACBE accreditation standards will most definitely even collide with the government accreditation's standards. While complex harmonization and alignment may "pay off" for AACSB accreditation, it most probably won't for ACBSP/IACBE accreditation.
ACBSP, IACBE, and AACSB are all "add-on" programmatic accreditation, so they shouldn't conflict with institutional accreditation anywhere, even in Europe, where AACSB accreditation of business programs is not uncommon.
(02-06-2026, 11:24 AM)Eleanor Wrote: For institutions without institutional accreditation gaining "something" with ACBSP accreditation, this will be at the expense of those students who expect their degrees to be recognized. It cannot be assumed that students are experts in accreditation. And the institutions know that....
Sometimes, yes. That combination might adversely impact students who want to go on for further study, for example. But especially since business is not a regulated profession, for students who just want to study business and then go get a job it might not be a problem at all. (Still, like I said, it's odd.)
RE: European International University - PearsonOTHMQualifi7654 - 02-06-2026
I agree with what both Steve and Eleanor have been saying here.
My main point is simply that for certain non-US or “less traditionally accredited” institutions, accreditors like ACBSP/IACBE (or ASIC/BAC in the UK context) can sometimes be somewhat helpful in rounding out the picture. Not because they create global recognition, but because they at least provide some form of external review.
That said, I don’t really see any US institutionally accredited school materially increasing its value by adding ACBSP or IACBE. In that context, those accreditors feel more like optional programmatic add-ons than something that changes the institution’s standing.
On ASIC vs BAC, I’ve generally assumed they were roughly comparable, although I’ve also heard BAC is viewed as slightly stronger. Now I think some might look at ASIC and / or BAC and just dismiss them completely, and I am not here to argue on that.
Out of curiosity, I looked into a BAC accredited school, and saw a French institution that is eerily similar to EIU-Paris:
Institut Brittany d’Enseignement Supérieur (IBES)
- Holds BAC accreditation
- Registered under the same French Education Code framework (Chapitre IV) as EIU
- Additionally registered as a professional training provider under Article R.6351-6 of the French Employment Code
- Has Qualiopi certification (which suggests quality review of training delivery, though it doesn’t really add global degree recognition)
- Claims registration with the Rectorat de Paris (unclear how meaningful this is)
It's like earning a "French Titulo Propio" and getting the Spanish Propio. They are kind of redundant, but the difference is that UCAM, as an institution, is fully recognized in Spain.
What stood out most to me is transparency. EIU-Paris repeatedly and clearly explains that it is not awarding a diplômes nationaux, and it does so in multiple places on the website, on the diploma/transcripts, and in communications with prospective students. They even explain what RNCP is and that they are not on there yet.
IBES, on the other hand, does not seem to go out of its way to disclose these distinctions as clearly. A student could easily enroll, assuming that because it is French, and has all these laws and codes being cited, as well as registration with the Rectorat de Paris (which sounds formal), that it sounds like it is state-recognized, without realizing the framework they are operating under.
To me, this highlights how disclosure and transparency can differ between two institutions that are legally and structurally very similar. Even if someone is skeptical of both, EIU is doing a noticeably better job of explaining what it is not, which is an important ethical distinction.
With IBES’s pricing (€5,500 for a final-year top-up and €8,600 for the full three-year program), it becomes difficult to justify when there are arguably stronger European options available, including programs with clearer MQF/EQF recognition.
EIU-Paris charges approximately €1,000 for a BBA final-year top-up, or €2,000 for the fast-track option (faster grading).
Whatever one thinks of these institutions, they are operating in broadly similar “private education / non-national degree” frameworks. At those price points, IBES is charging a premium while still relying on the same kinds of structural limitations and recognition caveats.
If anything, EIU’s transparency and pricing is more aligned with what it actually offers, and its disclosures are unusually clear for this segment of the market.
ENEB is a good example of this category as well. The model itself is not necessarily the issue. The bigger issue is that many providers do not clearly explain the nature of a Título Propio to prospective students.
Nobody seems to have an issue with ENEB and Ui1. EIU, by contrast, is unusually direct about what it is and is not.
One final point: I can honestly say EIU educated me directly on how the French national system works and what they are not. That level of disclosure is unusual in this segment. That matters, because students cannot be assumed to be experts in accreditation.
RE: European International University - Eleanor - 02-06-2026
(02-06-2026, 12:13 PM)SteveFoerster Wrote: That's not at all like the American context. Here the institutional accreditors are different organizations from the programmatic accreditors, so what you're saying about them being the same isn't even possible.
For example, a university might be institutionally accredited by, say, WASC, while its law school is accredited by the American Bar Association and its counseling programs accredited by CACREP. There's no overlap.
Understood. In simple terms - if a (new) business school sets up in the US and applies for regional accreditation - who will accredit their MBA?
RE: European International University - SteveFoerster - 02-06-2026
Makes sense. Yeah, UCAM is really big in the validation space.
I'm not sure I'd agree that nobody seems to have an issue with ENEB and UI1, since we have a bunch of threads with 400 pages of people disagreeing about that, but generally speaking I take your point, and I don't expect that people would generally have a problem with a degree validated by UCAM.
(02-06-2026, 03:31 PM)Eleanor Wrote:(02-06-2026, 12:13 PM)SteveFoerster Wrote: That's not at all like the American context. Here the institutional accreditors are different organizations from the programmatic accreditors, so what you're saying about them being the same isn't even possible.
For example, a university might be institutionally accredited by, say, WASC, while its law school is accredited by the American Bar Association and its counseling programs accredited by CACREP. There's no overlap.
Understood. In simple terms - if a (new) business school sets up in the US and applies for regional accreditation - who will accredit their MBA?
Since business isn't a regulated profession, an MBA doesn't need to be accredited again as it's all covered by the university's institutional accreditation. The others we've been discussing aren't required, they're just... more.
RE: European International University - Eleanor - 02-06-2026
(02-06-2026, 04:16 PM)SteveFoerster Wrote: Makes sense. Yeah, UCAM is really big in the validation space.
I'm not sure I'd agree that nobody seems to have an issue with ENEB and UI1, since we have a bunch of threads with 400 pages of people disagreeing about that, but generally speaking I take your point, and I don't expect that people would generally have a problem with a degree validated by UCAM.
(02-06-2026, 03:31 PM)Eleanor Wrote:(02-06-2026, 12:13 PM)SteveFoerster Wrote: That's not at all like the American context. Here the institutional accreditors are different organizations from the programmatic accreditors, so what you're saying about them being the same isn't even possible.
For example, a university might be institutionally accredited by, say, WASC, while its law school is accredited by the American Bar Association and its counseling programs accredited by CACREP. There's no overlap.
Understood. In simple terms - if a (new) business school sets up in the US and applies for regional accreditation - who will accredit their MBA?
Since business isn't a regulated profession, an MBA doesn't need to be accredited again as it's all covered by the university's institutional accreditation. The others we've been discussing aren't required, they're just... more.
Thank you. Does this mean, that this business school under its institutional accreditation may initially and subsequently add as many business programs it likes without going through an accreditation process for each program?
RE: European International University - SteveFoerster - 02-07-2026
(02-06-2026, 05:03 PM)Eleanor Wrote: Thank you. Does this mean, that this business school under its institutional accreditation may initially and subsequently add as many business programs it likes without going through an accreditation process for each program?
Well, new programs need to be cleared through the institutional accreditor, but the process for that usually isn't onerous since the fundamentals have already been established.
RE: European International University - Eleanor - 02-07-2026
(02-07-2026, 01:20 PM)SteveFoerster Wrote:(02-06-2026, 05:03 PM)Eleanor Wrote: Thank you. Does this mean, that this business school under its institutional accreditation may initially and subsequently add as many business programs it likes without going through an accreditation process for each program?
Well, new programs need to be cleared through the institutional accreditor, but the process for that usually isn't onerous since the fundamentals have already been established.
Thank you. That's interesting. In Europe a separate application for accreditation for each (new) program must be submitted to the accreditor. The process may take anything between 3 months to a year or even more (depending on EQF Level) from what I have experienced. While systems, processes, quality assurance framework, etc. have been established with institutional accreditation, programmatic accreditation is centered around Curriculum/Syllabi, ECTS, and learning outcomes, learning outcomes, learning outcomes.... They are so passionate about learning outcomes.
RE: European International University - Sagan - 02-07-2026
Membership is not accreditation.
All of this--9 pages so far--falls under the category of "If you have to ask...."
RE: European International University - SteveFoerster - 02-07-2026
(02-07-2026, 04:33 PM)Eleanor Wrote:(02-07-2026, 01:20 PM)SteveFoerster Wrote:(02-06-2026, 05:03 PM)Eleanor Wrote: Thank you. Does this mean, that this business school under its institutional accreditation may initially and subsequently add as many business programs it likes without going through an accreditation process for each program?
Well, new programs need to be cleared through the institutional accreditor, but the process for that usually isn't onerous since the fundamentals have already been established.
Thank you. That's interesting. In Europe a separate application for accreditation for each (new) program must be submitted to the accreditor. The process may take anything between 3 months to a year or even more (depending on EQF Level) from what I have experienced. While systems, processes, quality assurance framework, etc. have been established with institutional accreditation, programmatic accreditation is centered around Curriculum/Syllabi, ECTS, and learning outcomes, learning outcomes, learning outcomes.... They are so passionate about learning outcomes.
Honestly, it doesn't sound that dissimilar. They will say no if you don't demonstrate being sufficiently prepared.