Executive summary. This article explores how the case method is becoming strategically central to business school accreditation as EFMD’s EQUIS standards evolve. Through insights from EFMD leaders, it shows how experiential, practice-oriented learning is replacing deterministic models of management education. The case method is positioned not just as a teaching tool, but as evidence of impact across areas including research, ethics, internationalisation, faculty development, and connections with practice. In an AI-driven, complex world, cases are framed as essential for developing responsible, uncertainty-ready leaders.
Key takeaways
- The case method is directly aligned with multiple EQUIS standards, including Programmes, Research, Faculty, Ethics, and Connections with Practice–making it a strategic accreditation asset, not just a pedagogy.
- EFMD’s evolving frameworks prioritise practice-oriented research and experiential learning, recognising cases as legitimate vehicles for knowledge creation and impact.
- In an AI-driven world, business education must move away from deterministic models and towards complexity, ethical ambiguity, and real-world decision-making–exactly what the case method enables.
We’re living in a time of rapid change. Huge technological advances and changing global priorities have led to shifts in students’ needs and employers’ expectations. As a result, business schools are redefining their value propositions, which means the ways we define and measure impact must evolve, too.
We sat down with Matthew Wood, Director of Operations & Global Focus Magazine Editor, and Alfons Sauquet, Director, Quality Services & EQUIS at EFMD Global, to talk about how EFMD accreditation frameworks are evolving. And how the case method has become a vital tool for business schools working toward accreditation.
Historically, peer-reviewed journal publications have been the gold standard for evidencing research and intellectual contributions for accreditation. Comparatively, the impact of pedagogical methods like the case method has been more difficult to quantify. But the business education landscape has changed, and so has the role of the case method.
Matthew was keen to highlight that in this age of AI, it’s more important than ever that business schools bring experiential learning into the classroom, and no other pedagogical tool does this like the case method.
Alfons added, “Executives are not coming to business schools for a recipe or steps A, B, and C. Those deterministic management tools are no longer current.” The focus has shifted to “anything that brings complexity into play, and allows for an in-depth, intellectually framed discussion.”
The business world needs leaders who are skilled at managing complexity and navigating uncertainty. The case method ties in perfectly with the mission of producing responsible, practice-oriented leaders. In this vein, Matthew suggests that the use of the case method can be positioned as a strategic pedagogical choice in relation to Standard 2 in EQUIS’ framework, Programmes.
Alfons expanded on this point, telling us that Standard 5: Research has been revised specifically to include an emphasis on practice-oriented research. This means that when cases bring with them a knowledge advancement purpose, they can be reported in Standard 5. The case method provides an opportunity like no other for students to practice navigating real-world business scenarios. With exposure to ethical and practical complexity, students learn how to critically analyse and weigh up risk, learning the process of decision-making itself.
This relates directly to Standard 9 and a topic of huge relevance in our current global context. Ethics, Responsibility and Sustainability are now major factors for many students when they decide where to study.1
We need future leaders who can balance ethics and responsible management with profit and economic growth. Certainly, balancing sustainability with profit is a subject of increasing concern for business leaders in the context of increasing pressure to safeguard our environmental and economic futures. And there are few clear answers in this area. As Alfons put it, “It’s grey, and that’s why cases are perfect.”
Alfons also shared that there is a task force of deans currently working with EFMD on revisions to Standard 2: Programmes. The aim is to revise the standard to highlight the relevance of innovative pedagogical tools, like the case method, in assessment criteria. This means that business schools will be able to directly reference their use of the case method to support their accreditation bids.
Creating impact
But the relevance of the case method for accreditation goes much further than using cases as a teaching tool. Creating space for faculty to write their own cases can strengthen evidence of EQUIS’ Standard 4: Faculty. When a member of faculty develops their own case, they are contributing to the global business education community.
Alfons told us, “Writing your own case brings a richness to your own teaching, while schools that produce local cases are contributing to global understanding and cultural empathy.”
This also links with Standard 8, perhaps one of the most important areas for our current interconnected world, Internationalisation. Alfons told us, “Cases are good instruments to show the variety of what’s being done in management education all over the world.” And thanks to the Financial Times’ incorporation of The Case Centre’s Impact Index methodology into its Aggregated Research Ranking since 2024, the reach of cases produced by business schools is easier to quantify.
Finally, both writing and teaching with cases help form a bridge connecting students with real-world practice (Standard 10: Connections with Practice). Teaching with cases, of course, brings those real-world scenarios into the classroom. Writing field-researched cases goes further in that it builds networks with local businesses and keeps schools in touch with what’s going on in the wider business community. Developing a field-based case requires sitting down with business leaders and getting into the nuts and bolts of their day-to-day, sharing data and working collaboratively. This kind of work provides fertile ground for building new connections and strengthening existing ones.
Moving away from determinism
It seems there are clear opportunities for business schools to adopt the case method to evidence alignment with EQUIS standards. Particularly in the areas of Mission and Strategy, Research, Faculty, Programmes, Internationalisation, Connections with Practice, along with Ethics, Responsibility and Sustainability.
However, one of the key messages from Alfons was that assessment for accreditation is far from deterministic. He was clear that there are myriad opportunities for schools to utilise the case method to strengthen accreditation bids. Indeed, Alfons considers it a huge missed opportunity if schools are not doing this. Particularly in terms of evidencing practice-oriented research and creating space for faculty to produce their own cases.
The need for innovative, experiential pedagogical tools is growing. As Alfons put it, “It’s a time for the case method.”
EQUIS Standards and the case method
- Standard 1: Mission and Strategy – the case method as a strategic pedagogical choice
- Standard 2: Programmes – the use of innovative tools
- Standard 4: Faculty – producing cases and contributing to business management on a global scale
- Standard 5: Research – an emphasis on practice-oriented learning
- Standard 8: Internationalisation – Measuring global impact
- Standard 9: Ethics, Responsibility and Sustainability – balancing ethics and responsible management with profit and economic growth
- Standard 10: Connection with practice – building and strengthening networks through field-based cases
Footnotes
1 Marc Ethier, “Positive Impact Rating 2025: A Record 86 Business Schools Rated as Students Call for Change,” Poets & Quants, 10 June 2025, accessed 7 October 2025, https://poetsandquants.com/2025/06/10/positive-impact-rating-2025-a-record-86-business-schools-rated-as-students-call-for-change/?pqcategory=business-school-news&utm.
