February 5, 2018: KARACHI:

The 5^th Deans and Directors Annual Conference, organized by National Business Education Accreditation Council (NBEAC) of Higher Education Commission (HEC), commenced on Monday, 5^th February, 2018 at Pearl Continental Hotel, Karachi. The conference was chaired by Chairman NBEAC, Dr. Hasan Sohaib Murad.

Governor Sindh, Muhammad Zubair, graced the conference with his presence as the Chief Guest. Commenting on the conference theme “Creating Impact with CPEC” he said, “The theme is significant in two respects; first, it is generating a discussion in the wake of changing landscape of economy and multilateral relationships in the region; and second, it is connecting Business Education with CPEC which will have a long-term impact.” He also added, “The success of CPEC depends very much on the consensus, commitment, continuity and collaboration of all stake holders including political parties, public and private sector organizations, military, civil society, and of course academia.”



Key note speaker, Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed, Chairman HEC, on this occasion said, “Leadership in education, particularly in priority areas is a critical resource that is likely to take other stakeholders in main stream into confidence so that policies can be made functional and executable which have potential to chart socio-economic future of the country.” Other key note speeches that set the tone of the conference were delivered by Mr. Stephen Saaca, Chief Executive Officer of Global Business School Networks, USA, and Dr. Zaki Rashidi, Associate Dean of Management Sciences at IQRA University.

One of the four panel discussions during the first day of the conference revolved around the “Collaboration with Chinese Business Schools” with speakers such as Prof. Dr. Lai Desheng, Dean of Business School Market Beijing Normal University, Prof. Zhiwen Yin, Associate Dean at School of Management in Fudan University, Prof. Frank Y-H Ying, Dean of Department of Business Administration at National Taiwan Normal University, and Dr. Prof. Guo Xuetang, Director of Institute of International Strategy and Policy Analysis SUIBE. The panel discussion was moderated by Dr. Ishrat Husain, currently serving as the Chairman of the Centre for Excellence in Islamic Finance (CEIF) at IBA.

Other plenary sessions addressed topics such as leveraging Karachi for CPEC and shifting roles of business schools in society. Capacity building workshops focused primarily on the matters of Accreditation and Reaccreditation, and meeting the challenges of business schools/department within the context of large universities.



Day one of the conference culminated with a call for papers segment that served as a platform to present original scholarly papers relevant to the theme of the conference.

The conference will conclude on February 6^th with some more training sessions, workshops and seminars led by national and international trainers and speakers.

February 6, 2018: KARACHI:

Second day of the 5th Deans and Directors Annual conference started off with a panel discussion that revolved around “Sustainable Business Schools in Challenging Times” and addressed notions of how globalization and market forces are impacting business world.

The panel was moderated by Dr. Huma Baqai, Associate Dean of Institute of Business Administration (IBA), and consisted of eminent speakers such as Dr. Farrukh Iqbal, Dean and Director of IBA, Prof. Dr. Tahir Ali, Dean of Faculty of Management and Administrative Sciences at University of Karachi, Mr. Talib Syed Karim, President of the Institute of Business Management (IoBM), Dr. Wasim Kazi, Vice Chancellor of IQRA University, Ms. Seema Mughal, Vice Chancellor of Greenwich University, and Dr. Nisar Ahmed Siddiqui, Vice Chancellor of Sukkur IBA. 

Commenting on the changing market needs, Dr. Farrukh Iqbal, Dean and Director of IBA, said, “Rising costs and changing market needs imply that business schools should become more agile and flexible with respect to course content, teaching methods, faculty deployment and program duration. They also imply that regulations pertaining to business schools must change to allow the needed flexibility.”

Workshops on the second day included capacity building relating to refining peer review skills and deans along with seminars delivered by Dr. Christophe Terrasse, Director of Projects European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD), Stephen Sacca, CEO of Global Business School Networks, USA, Mr. Jean-Baptiste Maillard, Manager International Projects Department at European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD), Belgium, and Mr. Javed Hamid, Senior Advisor at International Executive Service Corps, USA.

5th Deans and Directors Annual Conference, organized by National Business Education Accreditation Council (NBEAC) of Higher Education Commission (HEC), commenced on 5th February at Pearl Continental Hotel, Karachi.

The first day of the conference had plenary sessions and workshops that addressed topics such as leveraging Karachi for CPEC, shifting roles of business schools in society, and addressing issues of accreditation.

Designed to increase the effectiveness of business education in Pakistan, the conference brought together more than 100 deans and directors of national and international business schools to engage in strategic level discussions. The conference aimed at actualizing its anticipated outcomes that include developing policy and process recommendations for aligning business education with local and global needs; identifying actions to meet the emerging challenges in business education to make it more relevant for Pakistan; and, recommending policy framework and actions for quality improvements in different areas of business education.

The two-day 5th Deans and Directors Annual conference was chaired by Chairman NBEAC, Dr. Hasan Sohaib Murad, while Governor Sindh, Mr. Muhammad Zubair graced the conference with his presence as the Chief Guest. Concluding with the 19th NBEAC Council meeting, the conference showcased well-structured plenary sessions, capacity development workshops and quality service seminars.