Triple accreditation (or Triple Crown accreditation) is the accreditation awarded to 76 business schools worldwide as of July 2016 (up from 74 in May 2016) by the three largest and most influential business school accreditation associations:
Of the 13,670 schools offering business degree programs worldwide, only 70+ have triple accreditation as of April 2016.
The diagram on the right shows the 54 triple-accredited schools outside of North America as of March 2012. Another two triple-accredited schools used to be found in Canada, bringing the worldwide total to 56 in 2012. For AACSB, the diagram interpretation is as follows: 53 schools are accredited only by AACSB; a further 7 are accredited by AACSB and AMBA; another 23 are accredited by AACSB and EQUIS; and 54 are accredited by all three accrediting bodies (outside of North America).
A major reason for the small number of triple-accredited institutions in the world is the requirement of the Association of MBAs that AMBA-accredited business schools should only admit MBA applicants with at least three years of full-time post-graduation work experience. Some analysts claim that most top US business schools cannot meet this criterion as they sometimes (though rarely) admit applicants with only a bachelor's degree and little or no work experience. They claim that it is why triple-crown accreditation is pursued primarily by European institutions. However, it is not the case when some (former) triple accredited institutes, City University of Hong Kong for example, only require applicants having "relevant work experience is desirable (though not specifically required)".
Each of the three institutions assesses a business school according to different criteria and scope:
There are 75 triple-accredited schools based in 30 countries and territories as of July 2016: