International Management Institute (IMI), New Delhi, ranked seventh among management institutes in India by National Institutional Ranking Framework, Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), has kept research as top priority, not just with respect to number of case writings, but also paper presentation in international conferences.
Bakul Dholakia, director general, IMI-New Delhi said that in the last 1-1.5 years, there has been a four-fold increase in case writing at the institute. "There is a substantial increase in papers published in national and international journals. Also, there is a significant increase in books published by our faculty," he said.
With respect to research, there has been increase in output, Dhokalia said. An increase in the number of faculty presenting papers in international conferences, has led to an enhancement of IMI New Delhi brand internationally, especially in Europe and North America.
IMI New Delhi was established in 1981 in collaboration with IMI Geneva (now IMD, Lausanne).
"The first step in participation in international ranking exercises is that you should establish yourself firmly in India. Since we have been ranked number one private business school in India by MHRD, now is the time we should look at participation in international rankings," said Dholakia.
However, the eligibility for MBA rankings globally is work experience must be mandatory for MBA. "For being a part of the global rankings, we first need to do a restructuring of our existing programme. Unless we get the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) accreditation, we would not like to participate in them," he further said. IMI New Delhi already has the Association of MBAs accreditation. Dholakia added that they would wait till they get AACSB and SAQS (South Asian Quality Assurance System) accreditation.
Apart from research output, rankings also look at the output with respect to the doctoral students that pass out from institutes. The Fellow Programme in Management (FPM) is a full-time residential doctoral level programme of the International Management institute, New Delhi. In the convocation held in 2016, the first student of the IMI Fellow Programme graduated. Over two to three years, this number will increase, according to Dholakia.
International branding is equally important, said Dholakia, Director General, IMI-New Delhi. He said that while about 4-5 students go for exchange programmes abroad and same number of students come to the campus from abroad.
"We want to strengthen and enlarge this number. In 2016-17 academic year, we want to increase it to 15-20 students per year and the focus is increasing both incoming as well as outgoing students," he said.
The business school is also planning to increase the student intake in its postgraduate diploma in management programme in this year. Dholakia said that they are planning to expand their intake in the two year postgraduate diploma in management from 180 to 240, which would be a 33 per cent expansion. Further, he said that the focus will be on strengthening the research base in the institution.
Also, the institute is looking at becoming an international brand. "We want to build new international partnerships and wish to get visibility overseas. For this, we are looking at international collaborations and partnerships," he added.
