The Program Committee for South Asian Management Forum (SAMF) held its first meeting to discuss and plan the 15th SAMF Conference and the 6th Deans & Directors Conference at the Higher Education Commission (HEC) Regional Center in Lahore on Tuesday, July 10, 2018. The South Asian Management Forum (SAMF) is a biennial conference organized by the Association of Management Development Institutions in South Asia (AMDISA). The forum aims to bring together management experts, scholars, business leaders, policy administrators and other academicians from different countries of South Asia on a platform to discuss various connected issues and share their research findings. The last conference was held in April 2017 at the MNU Business School, Maldives National University Male, Maldives.  

National Business Education Accreditation Council (NBEAC) Deans and Directors Conference annually brings together more than 100 deans and directors of business schools for strategic level discussions. The conference is designed to increase the effectiveness of business education in Pakistan through debate on related issues and refinements in the accreditation process. The 5th Deans and Directors Conference, was held in February 2018 at the Pearl Continental Hotel, Karachi.

The members confirmed that the sessions of the 15th SAMF Conference shall be distributed over 2 days i.e. March 16-17, 2019 and the Deans and Directors Conference will be held on March 18, 2019. National Business Accreditation Council (NBEAC) will perform the lead role in planning and providing support to accommodate around 1000 participants at the Pearl Continental, Lahore.

The committee experts were of the view that this event will be a great opportunity to engage key stakeholders in the domain of management education and development from Pakistan, South Asia, as well as the world at large. The theme and sessions, as well as the session-delivery and presentation methods were discussed in detail. Further, the committee finalized Dr. Abdul Rab, Vice Chancellor, International University of Business Agriculture and Technology (IUBAT), Dhaka as the keynote speaker for Dr. Dharni Prasad Sinha lecture.

Given the significance of the event, separate program committees will be designated for SAMF and Deans and Director Conference to ensure smooth execution of the event. The tasks related to event sponsorships will be handled by NBEAC, while AMDIP Lahore will be given the target for resource mobilization.

A committee was nominated for Call for Paper (CFP) and related work. They further discussed regarding the deadlines, reviewers, online review system and the awards for best paper in each category.