About us

ABEST21 was founded in 2005, but its origins go back to 1994. The first Global Classroom Conference was organized by Professor ITOH Fumio on 28th October 1994. “Global Classroom International Conference” was a consortium of 7 business schools around the world which promoted the sharing of management education at business schools by setting up a “virtual classroom” on the Pacific Ocean via online teleconference system using the cutting-edge information technology.

The Global Classroom International Conference was renamed as “Global Knowledge Network”. The Network united the deans of 13 universities from Japan and abroad, who entered into an International Partnership Agreement aiming at further globalization of management education at business schools by promoting student exchanges among the universities. The main goals of this new organization were to conduct research aimed at developing the educational methods for the Global Classroom, and to further improve the quality of business education. It also aimed to build a system to guarantee the quality of management education based on a global perspective. The schools participating in the Global Knowledge Network concluded the International Cooperative Partnership agreement and developed a substantial international knowledge exchange system for promoting the globalization of the management education. Seven business schools joined together in a Global Classroom Conference held on October 28, 1994.

The Global Knowledge Network was reorganized into ABEST21, assisted by the deans of 16 business schools from the world to conduct quality assurance of management education.
Global Knowledge Network considered it an urgent issue to develop a system to enhance the quality of management education at the business schools. With this idea in mind, on June 28, 2004, at the Hakone Conference, the establishment of network aiming at the enhancement of management education at member schools was discussed, and the preparation to establish THE ALLIANCE ON BUSINESS EDUCATION AND SCHOLARSHIP FOR TOMORROW, a 21st century organization (ABEST21) was started. A year later, on July 1, 2005, assisted by 16 business schools from the world, the Network decided to establish ABEST21 as a mutual evaluation institution.
The 16 business schools are as follows.

ABEST21 was certified by the Japanese Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) as an accreditation institution for professional graduate school of business (Business Management, Management of Technology, Finance, and Business Information). ABEST21 stated its accreditation activities for Professional Graduate Schools, with business schools in Japan.

ABEST21 was certified as an accrediting agency for Professional Graduate School of Intellectual Property by the Minister of MEXT of Japan.
The certificate issued by Masaharu Nakagawa, the Minister of MEXT, dated October 31, 2011, says that ”With regard to ABEST21’s application dated February 17, 2011, in light of Article 10 of the School Education Act, we hereby certify ABEST21 as accrediting institution for Professional Graduate School of Intellectual Property”. ABEST21 has already been approved as an accrediting organization for Professional Graduate School of Business (Business Management, Management of Technology, Finance, and Business Information) on of October 12, 2007. Now that we cover the field of intellectual property, we will focus on the broader concept of “Improving the Quality of Management Education” and strive to establish a system to guarantee management education quality to nurture management professionals in Asian business schools, with Japan as a hub.

The 2013 ABEST21 Extraordinary General Assembly held on July 5, 2013 at Chiang Mai University, Thailand decided to change from non-profit organization to general incorporated association. Following the decision to change the status of ABEST21 from an NPO to a general incorporated association which was ratified at the extraordinary general assembly held on July 5, we submitted the application to the Ministry of Justice of Japan on August 19,2013.

ABEST21 10th Anniversary events were held at Toshiba Science Museum, Hotel New Otani and Hotel Mt. Fuji. There were 71 participants from worldwide. The ceremony was held together with Mr. Hiroshi Yoshimoto, Deputy Director-General, Higher Education Bureau, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan; Mr. Tadashi Okamura, an Advisor of Toshiba Corporation; Mr. Channarong Pornrungroj, President of AQAN; Mr. Dwiwahju Sasongko, Secretary of BAN-PT; and Mr. Soo Sit Chuan, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of MQA in attendance. The ceremony was conducted according to the program below at the Hotel New Otani. In the afternoon, we moved from Tokyo to Lake Yamanaka and a reception was held at Hotel Mt. Fuji.

he ABEST21 Rectors and Deans Forum 2018 “Promoting Student Mobility and Nurturing Global Management Professionals” was held on November 2 and 3, 2018 at Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB), Indonesia. The Forum was cosponsored by ABEST21 and ITB, supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan and assisted by the Embassy of Japan in Indonesia, authorized as a project commemorating the 60th Anniversary of Japan-Indonesia Diplomatic Relations.