Is excellence an elusive dream for East African business schools?

Byline: Simmy M. Marwa, Kay Hooi Keoy, S.C. Lenny Koh The purpose of this paper is to explore the extent East Africa Community (EAC) business schools' are inching closer to a world class business school status. The paper is informed by a review of literature on world class universities/business schools (WCU/WCBS). Attributes of excellence of WCU/WCBS are identified and used as a yardstick to gauge EAC business schools' performance. An exploratory web analysis of EAC business schools is then undertaken to establish gaps between these schools and WCBS. Opportunities for improvement are identified and recommendations made to embed a culture of excellence that catapults the schools towards excellence. Nonetheless, impediments requiring immediate attention still stand in the way of EAC business schools' path to excellence, particularly skill shortages and poor research track record. Embracing the suggested improvements, thus offers the schools' real opportunities to focus their quality initiatives towards excellence.