Loyola Institute of Business Administration (LIBA), a premier management institute established by the hoary Loyola College in Chennai, plans a raft of new courses that will help strengthen its academic curriculum and offerings while boosting its rankings in the B-school sweepstakes by next year.
Fr. Christie, Director, LIBA, who has returned to head the B-school after a few years, says he has a multi-pronged strategy to rev up the management school.
“We are working with the industry to integrate their ideas and expectations. LIBA has slipped in rankings. In 2007, when I was here, we were ranked 9th for two years in the India Today rankings. I have started a strategic planning process with the faculty on where we are, where we want to be and what we need to do,” he says.
LIBA was ranked 32nd in last year’s BusinessLine-MBAUniverse rankings of B-schools.
The institute is also looking to strengthen its interface with industry associations. Next year, in a tie-up with the NSE, it intends to kick off a one-year diploma programme on portfolio management. Along with the Indian Institute of Insurance, it will launch a diploma in insurance. It is in the process of tying up with an IT major to start a programme on business analytics.
LIBA, which recently launched an incubation centre for social entrepreneurs (see video) is also strengthening collaborations with universities abroad. “We signed up with universities in Spain and in Malaysia; we are in talks with universities in Mexico, the US and a few in Europe. We want to collaborate so that students have a chance to travel and widen their international experience,” says Fr. Christie.
At present, LIBA has nine students from France and will be sending 10 to 12 students abroad in summer. “It will help in student and faculty exchange. We are also looking to get people from abroad for MDPs (Management Development Programmes),” he adds.