Membership

Membership

There shall be four categories of membership: Ordinary membership, Associate membership, Affiliate membership and Reciprocal membership.

Ordinary membership shall be restricted to South African Graduate Schools of Business (hereinafter referred to as “School” or “Schools”) which offers the Masters of Business Administration (“MBA”) degree or the Masters of Business Leadership (“MBL”) degree accredited by the Council on Higher Education (“CHE”).

The Schools, set out in Annexure A to this Constitution shall constitute the founding members of the Association.

A School may apply for Ordinary membership if it is accredited to offer an MBA or MBL degree by the CHE.

Ordinary and Associate members shall be entitled to nominate the dean/director (“director”) and an alternate representative.

A South African educational institution may be eligible and apply for Associate membership:

if it is in the process of applying for CHE accreditation;

if it is responsible for programmes of study leading to the award of degrees in management, business administration, administrative studies, management sciences, institutional administration or commerce; and

shall be admitted as an Associate member on the recommendation of the Board of Directors and be approved by majority vote of the Association.

Applications for Ordinary and Associate membership may be considered at any meeting of the Association.

Affiliate membership is allocated to individual foreign universities (or equivalent), agencies, national organizations or international management development networks and business entities with an interest in the development and improvement of management education, research and scholarship.

Affiliate membership is conferred on the recommendation of the Board of Directors with the approval by majority vote of the Association, to be confirmed annually.

Reciprocal membership will be authorised and offered by the Board of Directors in exchange with other associations of business schools in other geographical areas, who, in turn, recognise SABSA as a reciprocal member of their associations.

Reciprocal membership have no liability to contribute towards the payment of debts and liabilities of the Association, and SABSA will require similar assurances on entering into a reciprocal membership with another organisation.

Any member may terminate its membership by delivering written notification of resignation to the Secretary, or on a School losing accreditation, or if at least 90% of the total number of voting members of the Association vote in favour of a resolution to terminate a member’s membership.

Annual membership fees shall be payable in the amount and in the manner established from time to time on the recommendation of the Board of Directors and approved by majority vote of the Association.

A member who has not paid an annual membership fee or additional levy by the stipulated dated [or if no date stipulated, by the expiration of six (6) months from date of sending the request for payment] will be deemed to be in default and may be suspended provided reasonable notice has been provided to the member that no payment has been received. While in default, a member may not be heard on any matter at a meeting of the Association or elsewhere, and will not be counted in calculating the quorum for meetings or the requirement for an absolute majority of members.

A register of members shall be kept by the Association showing the name, address and date of commencement of membership of each member. Provision for noting the date of cessation of membership should also be contained in the Register.

Objectives

The objectives of the Association are to:
promote the collective interests of its members by providing a forum through which the needs, views interests, concerns and expectations of its members can be expressed;
serve as a forum for the discussion of relevant education legislation;
advocate with government and regulatory bodies regarding national educational policies and standards insofar as they relate to business and management education;
conduct research, collect data on management education and assist in the development of teaching methodology;
assist in the development of research in the areas of business and management;
facilitate scholarly communication amongst the academic community and interested parties relating to management education and research through workshops, seminars, organised conferences and the publications of scholarly journals and materials;
assist in the development of those business schools in earlier stages of development;
contribute towards developing an appropriate quality assessment system for business education in South Africa;
promote co-operation with other associations having similar objectives;
communicate the interests of the Association to the community at large;
undertake activities in support of the Association’s stated objectives or general principles as it may from time to time be deemed appropriate or necessary.