The Lagos Business School (LBS) has become the first-ever tertiary Institution in the country to receive the ISO (9001: 2015 quality management systems certification from the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON). In a statement in Lagos, the Director-General Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) Mallam Farouk Salim congratulated the institution on the milestone achievement, stating that the certification will launch the school into the top 10 of the world university ranking system. According to Salim, the LBS is now in a privileged class of quality management system certified educational institutions around the world, worthy of emulation by all academic institutions and service providers in Nigeria.
The DG disclosed that with the challenges facing the academic sector in Nigeria, the LBS’s continual effort in implementing the ISO 9001:2015 QMS standard will improve the institutions’ educational processes to conform to learners’ requirements and enhance their satisfaction. The SON Helmsman, therefore, welcomed LBS to the world of quality which drives innovation and provides the ability to meet clients’ needs and expectations at all times, thus leading to greater patronage, improved competitiveness and profitability. Despite this achievement, the DG SON stated that there’s a need to be reminded that the quest for excellence has no destination because quality is a moving target. Salim therefore, challenged the LBS management to keep their system healthy and up to date to reap the continuous benefit of the ISO approach to management.
Stating that as part of the requirements of the system certification, it has been placed on an annual surveillance audit to ensure continuing suitability and effectiveness of the implementation of the quality management system. The DG however cautioned that the certificate will be withdrawn, if the structures in place for certification break down and necessary corrective actions are not taken on observed non-conformances. Salim used the opportunity to update the management of LBS and other educational institutions in the country on SON’s commencement of the certification scheme, ISO21001:2018 StandardonEducationalOrganizationManagementSystem by the SON Management System Certification (MSC) Service. According to him, the standard is specifically designed to improve the quality of educational service delivery in the world. The DG, therefore, called on all educational institutions, that are yet to embark on this quality journey to embrace the ISO management systems approach, now, for the unquantifiable benefits to the institutions, their students and the nation.
The Dean, Lagos Business School, Professor Chris Ogbechie thanked everyone who helped to achieve the certification stating that the presentation of the ISO 9001:2015 certificate to Lagos Business School (LBS) is a milestone, going down in history as Nigeria’s first academic institution to receive the ISO certification. According to Ogbechie, the LBS is proud to be a world-class institution that has a significant impact on the practice of management by building responsible leaders. Ogbechie revealed that LBS global ranking and accreditations have been achieved due to a careful and deliberate implementation of a Quality Management System (QMS) used to deliver a superior participant learning experience. “Today, our efforts have been rewarded with the award of the ISO 9001: 2015 certification. This affirms our dedication to providing quality education and service to our customers and stakeholders as well as meeting all statutory and regulatory requirements”.
The Dean however reiterated that it is only a beginning with the need to work even harder to continuously improve the institution’s service delivery across all touchpoints and maintain ISO certification. “Our commitment to the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) is that in 2 years during the revalidation exercise, we will be in pole position to achieve higher levels of service delivery and significant improvements to our QMS.
