IMI New Delhi looks to become global brand; applies for global accreditations

International Management Institute (IMI) New Delhi, which has been ranked seventh in the India Rankings 2016 by the National Institutional Ranking Framework, Ministry of Human Resource Development, is now looking to get both AACSB and SAQS accreditations. The first six positions were acquired by Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), including IIM-Bangalore, IIM-Ahmedabad, IIM-Calcutta, IIM-Lucknow, IIM-Udaipur and IIM-Kozhikode, in the order of their rankings.

Bakul Dholakia, Director General, IMI-New Delhi said, "The rankings show that we been ranked as the topmost private business school in the country. We are seventh nationally and we are number one as far as private sector business schools are concerned." International Management Institute (IMI), New Delhi was established in 1981 in collaboration with IMI Geneva (now IMD, Lausanne). It was the first corporate sponsored business school in the country.

Dholakia said that going forward, they are hopeful of getting additional international accreditations in the next one year. It has already been accredited by the Association of MBAs (AMBA). IMI New Delhi is looking for accreditation by AACSB and SAQs. "By end of 2017, we may have triple global AMBA, SAQS and AACSB," he said. AACSB refers to Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business whike SAQS refers to South Asian Quality Assurance System.

The business school is also planning to increase the student intake in its postgraduate diploma in management programme in this year. Dholakia said that they are planning to expand their intake in the two year postgraduate diploma in management from 180 to 240, which would be a 33 per cent expansion. Further, he said that the focus will be on strengthening the research base in the institution.

Also, the institute is looking at becoming an international brand. "We want to build new international partnerships and wish to get visibility overseas. For this, we are looking at international collaborations and partnerships," he added.

IMI New Delhi already has about 12 partner schools and is now looking to not only strengthen those but also get more such schools on board. Further, he explained that they want to introduce dual degree programmes and are in talks with some premier institutions in Asia Pacific for this.

"We want to expand across continents like North America, since we already have a strong presence in Europe. Over and above this, we want to make a strong entry into online executive education market," said Dholakia. The institute has experimented with online executive education on a pilot basis and is now looking to offer online certificate courses.