Today, many universities and business schools give MBA degrees. How to make the right choice of a school? How to navigate in a sea of diverse, not always reliable information?

According to surveys of potential MBA programs listeners, which are regularly conducted by Begin Group company project, 47% of respondents consider school reputation one of the most important factors. Applicants confirm availability of school accreditation serves an important component of its image.

Both schools and individual programs may be considered accredited and relevant to international standards. If an institution is qualified to offer business education, this means all its programs meet standards. Following organizations involved in accreditation are best known: AACSB International (USA), AMBA (Europe), EQUIS (Europe) and ECBE (Europe).

Different countries also have national organizations that accredit schools and programs in terms of compliance with standards. For example, Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools is one of well-known institutions of this kind in the U.S.

Organizations providing services for accreditation of education:
• AACSB International (The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business)
• AMBA (Association of MBAs)
• EQUIS (European Quality Improvement System)
• ECBE (European Council for Business Education)
• RABE (Russian Association of Business Education)

AACSB

AACSB International (The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) – the main U.S. organization operating in the said area. AACSB was created in 1916. Its goal is improving the quality of higher education in business administration and management. At this time, the Association accredited 426 organizations around the world.

Only nine of more than one hundred business schools in the UK are accredited by three leading organizations in the UK, Europe and the USA.

» Read more: MBA Education: Accreditation

Whenever you go to a sporting event, no matter what sport or level, fans love to cheer for their favorite teams. This has been so as long as sporting events have taken place, but organized cheering (or cheerleading) dates back to 1898. Thomas Peebles brought cheering to the University of Minnesota from Princeton University, but student Johnny Campbell took it on and led the crowd in the organized cheer of “Rah, Rah, Rah! Sku-u-mar! Hoo-Rah! Hoo-Rah! Varsity! Varsity! Minn-e-so-tah!” His leading of the cheers at the game merited a write up in the November 12, 1898 edition of the “Ariel” stating that Campbell and the others leading the crowd in cheers would “see to it that everybody leaves the park today breathless and voiceless.” Shortly after this game, an organized squad was formed at the University of Minnesota that consisted of six male students.

At the turn of the century, cheerleading as an organized activity or sport began to expand. By 1903 the first cheerleading fraternity, Gamma Sigma, was formed. In the 1920′s women began to become active in cheerleading, because until about 1923 cheerleaders were only males. When women joined the ranks of cheerleaders, items like megaphones and acrobatic or gymnastic moves were added to the routines. The pom-pom (what some might consider the ultimate symbol of a cheerleader) was invented by Fred Gastoff in 1965.

The National Cheerleaders Association (or NCA) was formed in 1948 by Lawrence “Herkie” Herkimer, a former cheerleader for Southern Methodist University. He formed this association to hold clinics for cheerleaders, and the first clinic (held in 1949) consisted of 52 female participants. He also formed the Cheerleading Supply Company in 1953, which retailed skirts and sweaters for cheerleading teams and groups.

» Read more: A Brief History of Cheerleading