The Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIMC), widely regarded as one of the best business schools in India and the Asia-Pacific region, has been awarded AMBA’s five-year accreditation for its MBA and MBM programmes.
Anindya Sen, IIMC Dean, said that the Institute has a slew of plans for global positioning and AMBA recognition is the first step towards it: “AMBA accreditation will help us improve international visibility and position ourselves as a global institute, so that we can attract more foreign students. We will also gain valuable advice on our continuous improvement.”
The new British Council report ‘Understanding India – the future of higher education and opportunities for international co-operation’, published in February, highlights that the Indian higher education system strives for innovation and change, as it is facing an unprecedented transformation driven by economic and demographic change. India will soon overtake China as the world’s largest population, and with an average GDP annual growth of 8% over the last decade, India’s middle classes, demanding higher education, will swell to over 500 million people in the next 10 years. By 2020, India will need 40 million university places – an increase of 14 million. India’s higher education system, originally designed to serve the elite, is rapidly growing, aiming to attract both Indian and international applicants.
Andrew Main Wilson, AMBA’s Chief Executive, said: “We are honoured to accept IIM Calcutta into our AMBA family, consisting of 213 accredited business schools all over the world. It is very rare for a first time applicant to get AMBA accreditation for 5 years and this only shows the level of excellence of the programme and the school. India’s higher education sector is one of the largest in the world, catering to 26 million students, and we are happy to help the best quality MBA and Masters in Management programmes differentiate themselves with an AMBA accreditation.”
The appetite for AMBA accreditation, the symbol of quality and international recognition, is certainly growing in India, where AMBA has accredited 6 business schools altogether. In addition to IIM Calcutta, AMBA has accredited the Indian Institute of Management Lucknow, Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode, International Management Institute Delhi, Management Development Institute India and SPJain Institute of Management and Research.