The Accreditation world is small. Our reputation and relationships are very important to us. They tend to span many years as we grow together with our clients. We seek out partners we can connect with, who want to do great work together and who will genuinely benefit from our expertise and zeal. Below are a handful of testimonials. If you would like to speak to any of our clients about their experiences, please let us know.
QED was of great help during our Schools EQUIS accreditation process, which resulted in a positive accreditation. Joanne and her colleagues shared with us their thorough knowledge of quality processes and guided me and my colleagues through rough waters. They were considerate, to the point and confronting sometimes, but for our best and always with the aim to achieve accreditation for the School
QED was very helpful in shaping our draft continuous improvement report for AACSB re-accreditation and identifying areas of potential improvement and development. Both Joanne and Adrijana were extremely responsive and worked with us under a tight timeframe to ensure the quality of our report. As our report had been written by a number of contributors it was extremely useful to have it reviewed for consistency of voice and coherence. There was also value in having someone outside the organisation review the content to ensure its clarity without having the organisational context. We would highly recommend QED.
QED provides an invigorating combination of realism and encouragement in its presentation of the contemporary higher education landscape. We were not left in any doubt about what we must do, but at the same time we were given valuable guidance about how to do it.
The webinar I attended about faculty qualifications was precise and showed the challenges. Sometimes it is very good to know that the challenges at other Schools are exactly the same.
QED are world class professionals. Their expertise made our quality improvement journey into a great learning experience. We truly appreciate all the high-quality guidance, full engagement and dedication to anticipated result delivery.
Highly recommended to schools selecting the paths to the international acknowledgement of quality assurance.
It is completely fair to say that – to me – your (QED) visit was the most determinant moment of the whole process. It was with the mock peer review visit and your comments and suggestions that we owned our SER – undertaking a profound revision – and prepared wholeheartedly for the visit. So thank you very much.
It was a perfect visit, with the most wonderful Base Room and a well-organized visit schedule. A lot of this was due to your advice and help. Many thanks for caring!
QED provided hands-on leadership training in an engaging and effective way that felt almost “frighteningly real”. The questions on the cards allowed for thoughtful discussions and we got to the root of thoughts and suggestions surprisingly quickly. It was amazingly easy to get the conversation going in a facilitated way, and it was great fun. Time was simply flying away, while we were learning from peers and sharing opinions that one wouldn’t normally share. No doubt that leadership development is best acquired through experience and reflection, yet many traditional leadership training programs are unable to deliver this type of learning opportunity. Often times leaders show up for training being physically present but mentally absent—and being more focused on what is being missed in their jobs by attending the training. But with QED’s game we got to the root of leadership in an inescapable way.
It is with enthusiasm that I recommend Joanne as I have had the privilege of getting to know her and her work over the last few years. Though Joanne’s skills and experience span a range of activities, our interaction has been within the higher education in business and management community, where she and her team at QED are very well recognized for the high quality guidance and accompaniment they provide for schools.
Joanne [QED Managing Director] is an excellent consultant to prepare university-level institutions for external review processes. She is well experienced and highly professional. Joanne has a long-standing track record of delivering top quality results.
QED are top class in terms of knowledge, professionalism, integrity, efficiency and delivery of real output. When I first started as Head of School I knew that achieving accreditation was top of the Business School agenda. The JE Cairnes School of Business & Economics deserved recognition nationally and internationally for its strengths and achievements.
Working with QED on an ongoing basis for 5 years has allowed us to fully benefit from the continuous quality improvement that is at the heart of all accreditation processes, leading so far to successful 5-year EPAS accreditation and AMBA accreditation for the Cairnes School. I would have absolutely no reservation in recommending QED as trusted Accreditation Advisors, in fact I’d say they’re a must.
I first got acquainted with Joanne Hession in 2007 during an EPAS review in Eastern Europe where we served as Peer Reviewers. I was impressed by her extensive expertise on the main business school accreditation procedures. As Dean of ESSCA she did some fruitful consulting work for me and we have continued to cooperate steadily through various EPAS consulting missions during which I have always admired her professionalism and the soundness of her judgment. I believe she brings with QED International a unique service to business schools thanks to a thorough coverage of quality issues coupled with a wide knowledge of management higher education in Europe.
I have known Joanne Hession of QED in a professional capacity since 2004 when she contacted me during a wide-ranging study of European Business Schools which she was conducting for a client. Subsequently, we worked together in 2005 to carry out an academic audit of the Masters of Business programmes in the Smurfit School at UC Dublin. The QED Team have successfully managed the accreditation process for all four major accreditation systems internationally -EQUIS, AACSB, EPAS and AMBA.
Based on a recommendation of a colleague, we recently participated in the online version of QED’s Leadership Game. As a new team, with some of our colleagues joining during the COVID 19 crisis, we found it a great opportunity to get to know each other better and to do some team building.
The Leadership Game covers the various components of leadership and work organisation and translates this into the way employees experience it. The game is designed in such a way that everyone participates actively and spontaneously. The structure of the game ensures that participants have the opportunity to think more deeply about their job, the leadership in the team and the entire functioning of the organisation.
Joanne and Joan support the game in a very positive and constructive way.
The participants gained better self-insight through the game, but also gained insight into the views and concerns of the other team members. We enjoyed our afternoon together and all team members appreciated the reflection that the game called for.
As a manager, I received very valuable feedback from Joanne and Joan.
The game is highly recommended.
Tinne Borremans; Faculty Director, Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Antwerp
QED carried out a Gap Analysis in order to help Surrey Business School assess where we stand with respect to a potential EQUIS accreditation. Within a short period of time, the team gained a superb overview of the School and the context in which we operate. Their many years of experience and their in-depth knowledge of the international business school landscape was evident throughout their work. They kept a professional and impartial perspective as expert advisors throughout the process. In addition to delivering a thorough and well-structured report, they also presented their findings to diverse audiences in the School, and in doing so, they struck exactly the right tone. Beyond the Gap Analysis process, they have always been available for advice, insight and information. I know I can lean on them with respect to all matters relating to accreditation and wider institutional development.
International accreditation is foremost on the Hertfordshire Business School agenda. It requires a significant investment of financial and human resources to underwrite the process of continuous improvement that accreditation fosters and a commitment of faculty and staff at all levels. Hertfordshire Business School is proud to have successfully been awarded EFMD’s EPAS accreditation for 3 years in 2010 and then 5 years unconditionally in 2013.
Hertfordshire Business School has been working with QED for many years. They provide advice and support to our internal teams, at all times in a professional manner, helping us to plan project timeframes, brief faculty and staff, and ensure our internal financial and human resources are targeted for this purpose.
QED have the ability to demystify the different accreditations and the nuances of each and their expert knowledge across the different international accreditations (AACSB, EQUIS, EPAS and AMBA) has been extremely helpful in terms of our strategic planning as we focus on the overall improvement and reputation of our business school. QED are the trusted advisors to many international business schools and we are pleased to consider them a Hertfordshire Business School partner.
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