Introduction. International accreditations have
become a means to reflect the characteristics of
business schools to their stakeholders. However,
there is still a debate about its validity as a quality
model, the different standards between accreditors
and the perception towards them. That is why
more detailed exploration is required, especially
from developing countries. Objective. Review and
identify the matching elements in the academic
literature regarding international accreditations,
with emphasis on AACSB and EQUIS. Materials
and methods. Through a narrative methodology of
literature review, 3025 articles were disaggregated
from 21 databases and identifying as fundamental
authors Urgel (2007), Hunt (2015), Lejeune (2011)
and Shenton (2010), as well as information on
the Accreditations AACSB and EQUIS. Results.
Repetitive elements are presented in the literature:
1) the dichotomy between accreditation as a means
to obtain reputation or improve educational quality;
2) accreditation agencies and their standards, and
3) perceptions of the result of being accredited.
Conclusions. The debate about quality or reputation
in Business Schools continues; the emphasis of
the accreditation bodies is on internationalization, academic development and research; and positive
results of accrediting, according to the interest
groups, are still inconclusive. Research topics are
opened in the areas of emphasis of the accreditation
and in the context that should be done for developing
countries where research is still incipient.
