Global recognition and the example of the Lagos Business School

Amidst concerns about quality and access in Nigeria’s educational system, the continued global recognition of the Lagos Business School serves as a source of upliftment and confirmation of the possibilities in our land. Kudos to the Lagos Business School for the many laurels it has earned, including emerging this July 2018 as the only school in Africa to be listed among the top 50 business schools in the world in The Economist magazine’s 2018 EMBA ranking.
The Economist ranked the LBS Executive MBA programme as the 48th best in the world out of 65 schools featured in the annual ranking of the world best providers of the Executive MBA programme. The ranking relied on two broad measures of personal development/educational experience and career development.
The analysts judged the quality of the EMBA participants, work experience,the number of industry sectors represented, career progression, and faculty. LBS MBA graduates ranked third globally in the percentage increase in earnings post-graduation.
For twelve years, LBS has featured in the Financial Times ranking of MBA- awarding institutions. FT ranks it third best provider of open enrolment executive education in Africa and second for custom education. LBS is also the first and only school in Africa featured in the CEO magazine’s Global MBA rankings. That list recognises the full-time MBA and the Executive MBA programmes of the school as Tier-One. It ranks LBS 70th out of 270 schools and programmes from around the world.
The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) and the Association of MBAs (AMBA) accredit the Lagos Business School. LBS is a member of the Association of African Business Schools (AABS), the Global Business School Network (GBSN), and the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME). It also has collaborations and exchanges with many schools including IESE Business School – Spain, IESEG School of Management – France, IPADE Business School, Mexico, Nanyang Business School, Singapore, Strathmore Business School – Kenya, the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business and the University of Stellenbosch Business School, both in South Africa.
The trajectory and successes of this institution exemplify best practice in education management, entrepreneurship and sustainable development. Since 1991, LBS has defined high level management education in Nigeria. It filled a gap. Hitherto companies sent personnel to institutions abroad for short courses or “in-service” training at great cost. It was not a sustainable practice for training large numbers as the economy expanded.
It started small, teaching short courses and expanding. The school played a significant role in the restoration of standards from the general decline in the locust years of the military. It provided formal general management training in line with the needs of industry. LBS set out “to develop competent and socially responsible managers to lead sustainable development in Nigeria and Africa at large”. Its growing alumni body agree that it has met this self-assigned goal.
The Lagos Business School has lived up to what it teaches. It is a successful entrepreneurial venture, growing its sinews over the last 27 years and establishing best practices in content and delivery of its courses. LBS has deep relationships with the Nigerian business community, developing manpower, carrying out research, consulting and writing case studies of Nigerian businesses that rank with the best in the world.
Its fundraising successes are a template for funding higher education. Through adroit project management featuring adherence to plans, transparency in handling donations, delivering on budgetand timelines, it earned the confidence of donors.Donors eagerly embrace funding of the projects of the school.
The School continues to benchmark against the best in the world. The result is its increasing global rating and acceptability.
The success of Lagos Business School birthed the Pan Atlantic University that has now added undergraduate courses to its initial postgraduate focus. It also gave rise to the Enterprise Development Centre with a focus on human capacity development with MSMES.
There is a high equity to the LBS brand. Its emphasis on business ethics has been a strong identifier that further stands it out. We commend the management and staff of the Lagos Business School on their recent global recognitions. We urge a deepening of their focus on training socially responsible and competent managers that would make a difference in navigating Nigerian businesses through the twin challenges of changing technology and the demand for growing higher capacity for innovation, research and development of competitive capacity in Nigeria. We urge the growing number of public and private sector institutions to emulate the LBS model and its successful practices in various areas.