Ritwik Mukherjee

Kolkata

NOW, IT’S the turn of the academic institutes to position themselves as global

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brand and global identity. The Indian Institute of Management-Calcutta, the country’s premier B-School, is the first IIM to get the nod from its board of governors to get international accreditation from leading American and European agencies.

“The international accreditation will help us gain better global access and also in forming alliances with various international institutes,” said IIM-C’s chief administrative officer Dinesh Varma.

IIM-C will seek accreditation from the leading US agency, Association of Advanced Collegiate School of Business (AASCB) and European Foundation of Management Development (EFMD), which hands out the prestigious European Quality Improvement System (EQUIS) label.

AASCB has so far accredited 550 institutions globally while EFMD has accredited more than 110 institutes across 33 countries. Out of the 550 institutes accredited by AASCB, 96 are outside the US.

Varma said, “Getting international accreditation is a time consuming process and now that we have got approval of the board, we want to set the ball rolling immediately. Because once we get that, we will be able to attract more foreign students and team up with universities abroad.”

Meanwhile, the IIM-C board has formed a two-member committee comprising external board member Roopen Roy and IIM-C faculty Ashish Bhattacharya to look into all aspects of funds flow and financial planning to take care of the institute’s expansion plans, including this and pay commission payments. “They will submit their report in October during our next board meeting,” said Varma.

The board of governors has also reviewed the strategic plan made last year on various issues. For 2008-09, IIM-C will focus on five important areas, which include campus expansion and development programme, international accreditation leading to global reaches and increasing the faculty to meet the increase in the intake of student. IIM-C is also keen on developing its alumni outreach “so that we can mutually benefit”, Varma said.