Aluminate - May 2012 - University of Edinburgh Business School

school news
Inger steps out of role
Dr Inger Seiferheld with
the MBA Class of 2011
on graduation day
Picture: Jonathan Littlejohn
After more than eight years with the
MBA, I moved on to a new role in the
School, that of Director of Quality and
Accreditations, last autumn. It felt strange to
leave it all behind.
Someone asked me if I was fed up with MBA
students. Absolutely not! I have always seen our
MBA students as the perk of my job. How can
meetings with intelligent people from all over the
world on a daily basis be anything but a perk?
I have had a great time as MBA Director; a
challenge I had never considered until I was
asked if I would take on the Directorship of the
MBA in International Business from August
2003. I thought about it for no more than five
seconds before accepting because how could
you not be excited about taking on such a role?
The job since grew to include the Directorship
of both day-time MBA programmes, including
responsibility for programme admissions – this
was a very busy time for me – and then, more
recently, the role as Executive Director.
So yes, I loved working with the MBA but the
time had come to do something different. Just
like your body, your brain needs stretching every
now and again.
During last autumn, I handed over the MBA
responsibilities to a number of different people
while scratching the surface of my new role,
which I took on full-time from November. It
Dr Inger Seiferheld
explains why she has
moved onto a new role
in the School
was full on from the start because we had an
Association of MBAs (AMBA) accreditation
coming up and I was to direct the process and
deliver the reaccreditation document, some
600 pages in the end, by the end of January
2012. With excellent help from Rachel Blythe
and many other people in the School, the
document was presented to the accreditation
panel in late February. At the time of writing,
we are awaiting to hear from the International
Accreditation Panel.
The new role is very different in nature.
For one thing, I do not have people at my
door almost all the time with questions to be
considered or in need of coaching or advice.
It requires interaction across the School,
on all levels, as well as with College and
the University, especially in the context of
monitoring and reviewing our programmes.
One thing that is on my mind, in particular, is
to make sure we tell you what we have done to
change our programmes as a consequence of
what you told us in your feedback. In addition
to that, interaction is required with AMBA
and EQUIS, with whom we currently hold
accreditation, and with AACSB, with whom
we are working towards our first accreditation.
Having a Quality and Accreditation office
is new to the School, so it will be a case of
developing, co-ordinating and redesigning
plans, processes and means of reporting – I
did a mind map with reporting needs the
other day and identified 42 areas for regular
reporting. It will take time to build all these
structures but I’m sure it will be enjoyable.
I would like to say a big THANK YOU to
all the wonderful people who have supported
me as an MBA Director; I could not have
done it without you. And thank you to the
MBA students that I have met over the years:
I would have quit a long time ago if it hadn’t
been for you!
Someone asked me if I was fed up with MBA students.
Absolutely not! I have always seen our MBA students as the
perk of my job. How can meetings with intelligent people from
all over the world on a daily basis be anything but a perk?
Dr Inger Seiferheld
10 | aluminate | may 2012 www.business-school.ed.ac.uk