Aspire, the academy for sports excellence in Doha, has been awarded the prestigious “Committed to Excellence” distinction from the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM).

It is the first time that a sports academy has achieved this EFQM award, which is the initial stage of recognising organisational excellence within the best performing companies and not-for-profit groups.

The various parties in Aspire have worked together with QESA’s (The Department for Quality Management, Education, and Social Affairs) quality management team to achieve the prestigious award, completing a challenging range of training, approved assessments and interviews, and helping to establish and ensure proper business processes and run process management improvement strategies where required across the organisation.

In achieving this recognition, Aspire is adding another important “world first” to its series of sporting and educational achievements.

“We are delighted to receive this award, which is the culmination of a long-term strategy for maintaining excellence across the academy. Every member of the Aspire community has contributed to this achievement, and we will continue to uphold these standards in our organizational, educational, social, and athletic activity,” said dean and director of Aspire’s QESA Department Prof Dr Dieter Hackfort.

The EFQM Excellence scheme, culminating in the Excellence Award, is considered one of the highest forms of organisational recognition, because it is judged by an audience of industry peers.

Top executives from leading businesses and public service organisations study and visit the candidates and - after an intensive examination - select a handful of outstanding achievers.

During the assessment, Aspire was evaluated for its process management systems in the sporting and educational action field and emerged with the highest mark for the developed process management systems.

The EFQM Excellence approach is applied at organisations including BMW, TNT Express, Nokia, Volvo and Dubai Holding and represents the framework for many international quality awards.

EFQM accreditation is valid for two years, and the academy has already begun the process of ongoing improvement to ensure it retains this distinction. – TradeArabia News Service