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UNYP MBA Coaching and Mentoring course accredited by the European Mentoring and Coaching Council

We are proud to announce that the University of New York in Prague has received a prestigious accreditation from the European Mentoring and Coaching Council, an internationally-recognized organization. This certification is given to the UNYP MBA Coaching and Mentoring course. UNYP has received this recognition at the European Quality Award (EQA) level, and it is valid from February 1, 2021 for a period of five years. We spoke with Sotiris Karagiannis, the Graduate Business Programs Director at UNYP, to learn more about this achievement. 

Please explain what the EMCC Accreditation is. 

The European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC) is one of the most prominent global institutions providing institutional and individual accreditations of coaching and mentoring practice. The MBA Coaching and Mentoring course, which is part of our MBA program, has obtained a five-year accreditation by EMCC, at the Practitioner’s level. UNYP students who successfully complete this course will qualify for individual accreditation by EMCC as coaches/mentors. 

Can you briefly describe the Coaching and Mentoring program? 

The course combines theoretical input in coaching and mentoring methodologies, such as person-centered, positive psychology, cognitive behavioral coaching, solutions-focused and brief coaching. Students complete 150 hours in total, of which 36 are theoretical and the rest correspond to practice, peer-to-peer coaching, preparation of reflective logs, and supervision. The course is a rigorous process in accordance with the competence framework and ethics codes of EMCC, guaranteeing its quality and status. 

What does the EMCC Accreditation mean for Coaching and Mentoring alumni? 

Upon successful completion of the MBA Coaching and Mentoring course, participants will have satisfied the necessary requirements to apply for individual accreditation by EMCC and be granted coach/mentor status at either the Foundational or Practitioner’s level, depending on their prior knowledge and experience. Participants with no prior experience qualify for the Foundational level, and can then opt for the next level after they accumulate the necessary coaching/mentoring hours. The benefit to our students is that they will have an officially-recognized qualification as coaches/mentors, which is a passport for further growth in their own profession, or if they want to follow a career as freelance coaches. At a time when there is a high demand for coaching and many people work as coaches but without a formal accreditation, our students will have a competitive edge; they will have been sufficiently and properly trained, meeting high standards of practice. We should note that this course is also open to professionals from various industries who are not pursuing an MBA at UNYP but who wish to follow this path to qualify as coaches/mentors. 

What did UNYP have to do in order to obtain the EMCC Accreditation? 

Our EMCC accreditation was the result of rigorous evaluation and validation by the EMCC assessors, who checked the content of the course to ensure that it fully aligns with EMCC‘s high standards, and submitted their report to a responsible validating panel to approve the accreditation. We are proud to say that our course was unconditionally accredited. This success is evidence of UNYP’s commitment to continuously improving the quality of its educational provision through innovative courses such as this one. This is the first time that an individual MBA course has achieved such a high level of recognition by a prestigious accrediting body such as EMCC. 

In summary, if you want to receive a certified training as a coach or mentor, and you want to be able to apply for an individual EMCC accreditation, then you should apply to one of our MBA programs or specifically to the Coaching and Mentoring course. This is the first MBA program in Czech Republic to receive this recognition.