IBS to up count, upgrade campuses

Icfai Business School (IBS), a relative newcomer in the Indian management school scene, is charting out a major expansion-plan involving construction of new campuses and upgrading existing ones, where each campus plans to invest between Rs 25-50 crore in the coming years to compete with other institutes in offering world class infrastructure.

Having established its presence in cities like Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Goa, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Kochi, Kolkata, Lucknow, Managalore, Mumbai, Noida and Pune, IBS is now planning to upgrade its buildings to residential campuses across the country. Two new campuses will be constructed in 2008.

The first to be upgraded is the new IBS Hyderabad residential campus which has been constructed on over 96 acres of land.

The investment made for the same is around Rs 150 crore. Land has been purchased at Bangalore and Nagpur to construct new campuses and in other cities the institute is in different stages of finalising land acquisition.

The institute plans to fund the investment by internal accruals and external borrowings.

Speaking about the expansion plans, R R Reddy, registrar, IBS Hyderabad said, "Initially IBS had limited funds as it operated under the philosophy of being a self-financing, autonomous institution not seeking any external support. Therefore, it exercised discipline in the use of the limited financial resources by spending it on areas that matter; like building intellectual capital. Now as a part of its growth plans, IBS is building its own campuses and this process is likely to be completed in next 5-10 years."

He added that the new campuses are being planned to be spacious, with residential facilities both for the students and the faculty. The new campuses will have a well-planned architecture and modern infrastructure.

Each campus will have seminar rooms, conference halls, library, administrative blocks with offices for faculty and staff, residential facility for students and staff, and recreational area with playgrounds, swimming pools, gymnasium, auditoriums and health centres, which were not available with its earlier infrastructure.

The expansion will also include a higher student intake which will go up from the current number of 4500 to 10 or 15 per cent more in the next two years.

IBS has been working on getting international recognition and has initiated the process to achieve an international accreditation from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), which is a non-profit corporation of approximately 900 members representing colleges, universities, and business and professional organisations committed to excellence in management education.