Benchmarks and Accreditations

Overview
Nyenrode in the World
Benchmarks and Accreditations

We provide the ideal environment for our students and participants to get the most out of themselves in order to achieve their goals. We pride ourselves on quality education and a personal approach. This is highlighted by national and international accreditations and rankings, as well as our student and participant satisfaction.

Accreditations by national and international authorities such as NVAO, EQUIS/EFMD, AMBA, CEA, and VRC are essential to our university because, among other reasons, they serve as a recognition of our quality assurance efforts throughout the program portfolio. They are also inspirational. Nyenrode’s Academic Services Center (ACS) in particular is responsible for monitoring the quality assurance policies within individual programs and for coordinating accreditation activities.

Nyenrode Business University is no. 36 in the Financial Times 2019 ranking of European Business Schools.

In the Financial Times ranking, Nyenrode Business University’s open programs were voted the best in the Netherlands and Belgium in 2020.

Business School Accreditations

EQUIS

Nyenrode Business University is accredited by the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD), an internationally recognized accreditation authority for business schools and companies, with the EQUIS accreditation. EQUIS stands for EFMD Quality Improvement System. In December 2018, EFMD extended Nyenrode’s EQUIS accreditation for three years. This accreditation ensures continuous quality improvement and assesses the university in the areas of governance, programs, students, faculty, and research. The assessment praised Nyenrode’s “engaged alumni,” “strong ties to the business community,” and “commitment to ethics, responsibility, and sustainability.”

AACSB

The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) is a global business education network and association. A first step in the process towards accreditation by AACSB was an Eligibility Report drafted in 2017. Following the acceptance of this report by AACSB in June 2017, we started working on the interim Self-Evaluation Report (iSER). As part of the AACSB accreditation, we also began the Assurance of Learning (AoL) process. In May 2020, Nyenrode submitted an interim Self-Evaluation Report to AACSB. If that report is approved by AACSB, the university will prepare a final Self-Evaluation Report. After that, the first visitation can be carried out to attain actual accreditation.

Program accreditations

NVAO

Nyenrode Business University is subject to the Dutch Higher Education and Research Act of 1993, conforming to a bachelor’s/master’s doctorate system, as well as to the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS). Our bachelor’s and master’s programs are accredited by the Dutch Ministry of Education through its national quality assurance agency, the Dutch Flemish Accreditation Organization (NVAO).

An NVAO panel reviewed the Master of Fiscal Law in March 2018 and was satisfied with the program. The committee’s positive advice was endorsed by NVAO and the accreditation was renewed.

The MSc in Management was reviewed by an NVAO panel in November 2019 and re-accredited, but not without conditions regarding the quality assurance for assessment within the program. For more information check the development interview.

In December 2018, an NVAO panel visited to review the Bachelor in Accountancy, the Master in Accountancy, and the Master in Controlling. The panel's conclusion was very positive and the report was submitted to NVAO in 2019. NVAO’s conclusion was also positive. For more information check the development interview.

In March 2019, the BSc in Business Administration program was visited by a NVAO panel for a mid-term review. That assessment was likewise positive. The first re-accreditation of the program is scheduled at the end of 2020.

Other program accreditations

Nyenrode programs are also accredited by the following organizations (none of these accreditations had to be renewed in 2019-2020):

The accountancy programs are also accredited by the Commission Learning Outcomes Accountancy Education (CEA).
The Association of Register Controllers (VRC) is a stakeholder of the Executive Master of Finance and Control.
Our MBA programs are accredited by the Association Member Benefits Advisors (AMBA).

Rankings

Financial Times Ranking

In the 2019 Financial Times ranking of European business schools, Nyenrode climbed from the 51st to the 36th place out of 95 institutions, with our Full-time MBA boosting our overall performance in the European Business School ranking. According to FT: “Several wrote about sessions with senior executives: ‘Meeting captains of industry and executives of global corporations in a personal environment has helped. This made me more confident and more able to talk on a personal level, and with hierarchical differences between people’.”

The Nyenrode Business University open executive programs were voted by the Financial Times the best in the Netherlands and Belgium in 2020. Globally, the university ranks 27th, compared to 34th place last year. The total list consists of the best 75 universities. The participants of the open programs particularly appreciate the preparation, design, and teaching methods of the programs and the learning objectives achieved. Nyenrode has maintained an unbroken streak in the top spot in the Netherlands since 2013.

Keuzegids 2020

The Keuzegids (Selection Guide) awarded the BSc in Business Administration at Nyenrode the classification ‘Topopleiding 2020’ (Top Study 2020). Students of the BSc in Accountancy mention that they learn useful professional skills, that they can immediately put in practice.

Starting from 2020, the quality label ‘Topopleiding’ is no longer awarded to master programs. Compliments were flying for the full-time and part-time MSc in Management at Nyenrode in the Keuzegids Masters 2020. Our Master in Fiscal Law program was also classified as ‘Very good’.

According to the guide, students of Accountancy & Control in the Netherlands are very happy with their program, but “are not very generous with compliments”. “The exception is the Master in Controlling program at Nyenrode, which is given above-average scores. The students express their appreciation of the testing system for this program, which is attuned to the curriculum, and also of the attention to scientific training and development.”

Previously, the results in the Keuzegids were based on the results of the Nationale Studenten Enquête (NSE, National Student Survey) combined with the results of the NVAO assessment. From this year onward, the NVAO assessment is no longer taken into account. Also, an NSE will not be held in 2020. The various Keuzegidsen for 2020 base their selections and recommendations on the NSE results from 2019.