'Efforts should be made to promote AMDISA'

Coinciding with the 31st Charter Day of SAARC, Association of ManagementDevelopment Institutions in South Asia (AMDISA), a SAARC recognised body, today discussed ways to promote cooperation among its members who hail from countries in the regional grouping.
Established in 1988, the AMDISA has 235 members from the SAARC region.
Its mission is to "promote management education and management development activities in South Asia, taking into account the economic, social and cultural context of the region," C Ramakrishna, Executive Director, AMDISA, said.
Addressing a conference on 'Accreditation for Institutional Learning and Growth' here, Karma Tshering, Director General, Royal Institute of Management, Thimphu, Bhutan, suggested that efforts should be made to expand AMDISA and make the body well-known outside to various institutions.

The South Asian Quality Assurance System (SAQS), the global benchmark quality assurance and accreditation system for business schools launched by AMDISA, should become the choice for accreditation, he said.
Talking about the management education scene in Bangladesh, Abdur Rab, Vice Chancellor, Eastern University, Dhaka, said AMDISA can conduct more workshops for faculty members, administrators and others who are willing to participate and not just those who sought accreditation.

Biswajeet Pattanayak, Director, Asian School of Business Management, Bhubaneswar, said efforts should be made to get SAQS recognised by the government as a quality assurance body so as to enhance its popularity.

Abdul Wahab, President, Mohammad Ali Jinnah University, Karachi, Pakistan, was scheduled to attend the event but could not make it due to health-related reasons, according to Ramakrishna.
Salman Masood Sheikh, Director Quality Assurance from Superior University, Lahore, Pakistan, who attended the event, said his institution was trying to implement the quality standards of AMDISA.
AMDISA received messages of best wishes on the occasion of the conference from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and SAARC Secretary General Arjun B Thapa, among others.
The heads of seven South Asian countries of SAARC (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) signed the charter to establish the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) on December eight, 1985, according to SAARC website.