A half-day assembly of Directors, Principals and Coordinators of Business Schools and Management Development Institutions on the theme "Regional Networking and Quality Systems of Management Education Providers" was held on 30 May, 2017 at Kathmandu University School of Management (KUSOM) in partnership with Association of Management Development Institutions in South Asia (AMDISA).

The assembly aimed at bringing together B-Schools and Management Development Institutions in Nepal to discuss the issues of quality improvement in management development domain in Nepal, create a platform for national networking for promotion of quality in management education and training, and participate in the regional networking for management development.

Thirty Principals, Directors, Coordinators from around 23 B-Schools and Management Development Institutions participated in the program.

Prof. Subas KC, Dean of Kathmandu University School of Management, welcomed the participants and facilitated the discussions while Mr. C. Ramakrishna, Executive Director, AMDISA presented informational materials on AMDISA as a regional networking framework for management education and training institutions as well as on South Asian Quality Systems (SAQS) as quality accreditation body for continuous quality assessment and improvement in management education and development field.

Participants of the program at KUSOM, Nepal

In his opening remarks, Prof. Subas KC briefly shared his understanding of the current management education scenario in Nepal and the issues to address for enriching its quality to make it regionally competitive and nationally more credible and sustainable. He pointed out the fact that management education in last two decades has taken a big stride, growing fast and establishing itself as the most sought-after education. But the rapid growth surfaced theissues of scalability, sustainability, and quality, all of which are very critical for the next stage development of management education. He highlighted the need of calling the assembly to discuss the issues related to quality of management education in Nepal and start the process of networking to learn from each other.

Mr. C Ramakrishna gave a detailed presentation regarding AMDISA inter-alia giving an overview about the - relevance, legal and structural framework, stakeholders, current chapters of AMDISA, members and benefits accruing through AMDISA membership.

After a presentation on AMDISA, Mr. Ramakrishna gave a presentation on AMDISA quality assurance initiative SAQS, covering the SAQS accreditation process, SAQS committee structure, SAQS administrative structure, eligibility, selfassessment and mentoring process, documentation involved for SAQS, SAQS accreditation terms - three years and five years accreditation, fees and other payments required for SAQS, holistic and introspective assessment required for getting accreditation, details of peer review process involved during SAQS accreditation and benefits that business school can reap by getting SAQS accreditation.

Following the presentations, an intensive discussion took place in which the participants sought clarifications, asked questions, and made comments. Prof. Subas KC and Mr. C. Ramakrishna responded to the queries regarding national networking of B-Schools as well as AMDISA membership and SAQS requirements.

Many B-Schools present in the assembly expressed their desire to join AMDISA for regional networking and also showed their interest in the SAQS process. As for the national networking, a Task Force was formed to work out a framework for collaboration and networking among B-Schools and Management Development Institutions in Nepal.