AMDISA

ASSOCIATION OF MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTIONS IN SOUTH ASIA

AMDISA has evolved the SAQS, embodying a professional approach and a South Asian perspective. This process began with a national workshop of Deans and Directors of Management Schools, coordinated by AMDISA's Founder - President Dr Dharni P. Sinha in June, 2000. The workshop deliberations concluded that there is a need to develop such a professional system independent of government agencies, and outlined the broad approaches toward that end. Since then, twelve more national and regional workshops have been organized.

Many of these involved extensive interactions with Deans and Directors from the South Asian Management Schools, and also with representatives of the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD), the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) International, and the national management associations in South Asia. AMDISA also received financial support from EFMD during 2004-2006 for developing SAQS.

Briefly, SAQS has emerged as a system which provides a quality assurance and accreditation framework based on regional and international experiences and perspectives. It uses a set of criteria developed from business and management schools of high national and international standing. Its policy is determined by a broad- based SAQS Council. The process is managed by the SAQS Committee. The major inputs for the quality assurance and accreditation process are generated by the management school found eligible for SAQS, through its Self-Assessment Report. This is followed by the visit of the international SAQS Peer Review Team/Committee to the school. Based on the Peer Review Report and Recommendations, the final school-wise decisions are made by the SAQS Accreditation Awarding Committee. All these SAQS forums comprise Chairman and Members who have a wide variety of experiences as senior academic administrators in the South Asian management community. AMDISA Secretariat coordinates SAQS activities.

The various workshops have also been utilized to train about 60 senior academic administrators from the region as Mentors and Peer Reviewers. Mentors guide the interested schools in developing their Self Assessment Reports. Peer Reviewers provide the Schools real added value by offering them the benefits of an international academic and strategic audit.

So far 31 schools have been granted Accreditation - 1 from Bangladesh, 26 from India and 4 from Pakistan; and 10 schools have been granted Re-Accreditation - 9 from India and 1 from Pakistan. More schools in the region are expected to seek the academic guidance and strategic audit provided by SAQS in the near future.

More information can be obtained from Executive Director at
AMDISA Secretariat, University of Hyderabad Campus,
Central University Post Office, Hyderabad - 500 046, Telangana, India.
Phone / Fax: +91-(0)40-2301 3346, Email: execdir.amdisa@gmail.com, execdir@amdisa.org.

1. AMDISA Workshop on Reinventing Management Education: Closing the Gap between B-Schools and Corporations, at Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow, June 23-24, 2000.
2. AMDISA Workshop for Directors and Deans of Business Schools on Institutional Assessment, Quality Improvement and Accreditation, at School of Management Studies, University of Hyderabad, August 25-26, 2000.
3. AMDISA-AIMS Workshop on Accreditation and Quality Assurance of South Asian Business Schools, in collaboration with Association of Indian Management Schools, at Hotel Narai, Bangkok, during Global Management Forum on June 9th, 2002.
4. AMDISA Workshop on Quality Assurance and Accreditation of South Asian Business Schools, in cooperation with Postgraduate Institute of Management, University of Jayewardenepura, Colombo, September 5-6, 2002.
5. AMDISA Workshop on Quality Improvement & Quality Assurance Of South Asian Business Schools, in cooperation with North South University, Dhaka, March 14-15, 2003.
6. First Workshop on European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD)-AMDISA Collaboration for Improving Quality Standards of Business Schools in South Asia, at Administrative Staff College of India, Hyderabad, November 11-14, 2003.
7. AMDISA - The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) Workshop on Accreditation of South Asian B-Schools, at Hotel Taj Residency, Kohinoor Hall, Hyderabad January 22nd, 2004.
8. Second Workshop on EFMD-AMDISA Collaboration for Accreditation Initiative, at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), Lahore, February 11-13, 2004.
9. Third Workshop on EFMD-AMDISA Collaboration for Accreditation Initiative, at Management Development Institute, Gurgaon, March 17th, 2004.
10. AMDISA-EFMD Workshop on Project under European Commission's Asia Link Project on Quality Improvement of Business Schools in South Asia, Phase I, at LUMS, Lahore, November 27th, 2004.
11. Workshop for Deans and Directors of Business Schools on Accreditation and Institution Building with the support of Governance and Institutional Development Division of Commonwealth Secretariat, London, at LUMS, Lahore, November 28th, 2004.
12. AMDISA-ICFAI Business School, Hyderabad Workshop for Directors and Deans - Leadership, Institution Building and Quality Assurance in South Asian Business Schools, at Centre for Organization Development, Hyderabad on January 27-29, 2005.
13. SAQS Workshop for Peer Reviewers, at Centre for Organization Development, Hyderabad, January 11-14, 2006.
14. SAQS Workshop for Peer Reviewers, at AMDISA Secretariat, University of Hyderabad Campus, Hyderabad, February 4-5, 2010.
15. SAQS Workshop for Peer Reviewers, at Institute of Business Administration, Karachi, Pakistan, June 15-16, 2010.
16. AMDISA's International Conference on "Building Quality in Management Education for Sustained Institutional Development" at Hotel Taj Deccan, Synergy Hall, Hyderabad, India on December 12, 2014.
17. SAQS Workshop for Peer Reviewers, at Association of Management Development Institutions in South Asia (AMDISA), Hyderabad, India, on February 19-20, 2015.
18. AMDISA's International Conference on "Accreditation for Institutional Learning and Growth" at Hotel Manohar, Crystal Palace - B, Hyderabad, India on December 8, 2015.
19. AMDISA Conference on "The Journey of Quality Assurance to Accreditation - Experiences and Future Prospects" at IFIM Business School, Bengaluru, India on March 3, 2017.
20. AMDISA organised a One-Day Workshop on "Self-Assessment Report Writing" on March 7, 2018 at AMDISA Secretariat, Hyderabad, India.
21. SAQS Workshop for Peer Reviewers, at Institute of Business Administration (IBA), University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh, on May 10-11, 2018.