EFMD Launch EOCCS - EFMD Online Course Certification System

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM--(Marketwired - Feb. 23, 2016) - At the 2016 EFMD Conference for Deans & Directors General in Budapest hosted by the Corvinus University of Budapest, EFMD officially launched EOCCS - EFMD Online Course Certification System.

Prof. Eric Cornuel, Director General & CEO of EFMD, said: "EOCCS is a vital addition to the EFMD portfolio of quality services. It gives online courses within universities, business schools, corporate learning organisations and public agencies a top international quality benchmark in the diverse education landscape where digital technology is applied to teaching and learning. EFMD draws from twelve years of experience in running CEL accreditation, which was designed to raise the standard of ICT-based learning programmes in the area of management education. CEL accreditation was at the time a pioneer initiative in the quality assurance of technology-based learning. The expertise EFMD gathered throughout that process will help us to ensure that the EOCCS certification system will bring value and external seal of recognition to quality online courses in the world."

Recent years have seen a surge in the use of technologies in higher education, often described as "mediatisation of the higher education ecosystem." After the appearance of MOOCs and the subsequent hype, the discussion today is concentrating on the affordances of new learning technologies and a refinement of pedagogical approaches.

"Online learning can open up more efficient and effective ways of learning. Course participants can align their pace of learning to their competences, construct their own learning journey independently and engage in active knowledge exchange. As online delivery methods continuously change, EOCCS certification of quality standards will help institutions to meet the course participants' needs and expectations," added Prof. David Asch, EFMD Quality Services Director.

The new EFMD Online Course Certification System (EOCCS) is designed as an international certification system firmly embedded in the general philosophy of EFMD accreditations, namely internationalisation, practical relevance and quality improvement. EOCCS is open to any institution delivering online business and/or management-related courses that are stand-alone or constitute part of a certificate or programme. The institution must be able to demonstrate that the four EOCCS standards are satisfied: the institutional context, course design, delivery and operations, and quality assurance processes.

"EOCCS can be seen as an add-on to EQUIS, EPAS and CLIP, where online provisioning is not a mandatory feature. The intentional impact of EOCCS to institutions, and to the business and management education field, is high quality online courses and the recognition of online learning as an effective and flexible way of learning," said Prof. Martin Schader, Associate Director, Quality Services, EFMD.

The EOCCS certification system will be established and developed with a portfolio of top pilot institutions representing both corporate and business school world, including BI Oslo, Boston University, HEC Paris, Henley Business School, IE Business School, The Open University, Iversity, Mazars and Sberbank.

If you would like further information or are interested in your online course taking part, please contact eoccs@efmd.org.