About School of Administration – UFRGS

Infrastructure

The School of Administration has 12 classrooms with capacity for 50 people each, three computer labs and 63 offices for faculty members. The classrooms have multimedia equipment for projection and lecture-interactive classes.

In 2016, accessibility restorations have been made in the building, including an exclusive bathroom for people with disabilities, lifting platform for access to classrooms, external ramp for wheelchair users and a enlarged entrance.

The EA Library has a collection of 22,500 titles and more than 127,000 transactions (queries, renewals, lends and returns) are performed on average.

International accreditation

Accreditation is a planned organizational improvement process whose purpose is to establish standards and operational procedures critical for ensuring the fulfillment of the Institution’s mission. The School of Administration, by decision of its Unit Council, has been affiliated to the AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business), an international accrediting body.

In order to obtain accreditation, the School must be prepared to demonstrate how its administrative, academic and ethical procedures and practices make a difference both in the business world, in society, and in the global community. Commitment must be shown in resolving, engaging and responding to social responsibility issues.

The AACSB was chosen because it is an entity recognized internationally, which brings together the most acknowledged business schools in the world. In addition, the AACSB’s main object consists of collegiate business schools, such as the EA-UFRGS. The affiliation of the School of Administration to the AACSB was supported due to the importance of including the EA in the group of best educational institutions of the country when the accreditation was obtained. In addition, it must also be acknowledged that the very process of preparing for accreditation is already a substantial opportunity for institutional improvement. The preparation pathway chosen for the School of Administration recommended by the AACSB was the implementation of ISO 14000 (environmental management standard). The implementation of this standard facilitates the accreditation process, because it introduces normative practices into the organizational culture.

Therefore, the EA accreditation process is under a learning phase ready to begin adopting standardized routines. In this case, achieving the ISO 14.000 certification, although being a preliminary step, is in itself a great step towards the School’s acknowledgement of its sustainability practices – which have been adopted for years without the formalization and the respective public recognition. An isolated set of smaller actions, but equally important, has already been arranged in order to comply with the accreditation criteria. For instance, the School has begun to inform its incoming students about their rights and duties through a printed student reference manual. An Ethics committee, composed by a psychologist and a pedagogue, has been instituted to deal with interpersonal conflicts. The School has implemented infrastructure improvements to provide accessibility for people with special needs. Through COMINT (Internationalization Committee), the School has expanded its international insertion, in spite of the economic difficulties imposed.

The main challenge for the process advancement is the maturing of the entire community on the understanding of School of Administration’s unique nature and its first purpose. Based on this understanding, it will be possible to establish a mission for the School which will translate its actual vocation. From there, an effort will be made in order to adapt managerial practices to ensure that the School of Administration produces teaching, research and extension, which is undoubtedly relevant to the local and global community.

Hugo Fridolino Müller Neto
Director at the School of Administration of the UFRGS from 2014 to 2018