Institute of Business Administration Karachi (Pakistan)

The Institute of Business Administration Karachi (IBA) is the oldest business school in Pakistan. It was founded in 1955 with administrative and faculty support during the first five years from the University of Pennsylvania and the next five from the University of Southern California. Since its founding, the Institute has consistently maintained a reputation as a leading business school in Pakistan while also diversifying into areas beyond business administration.

The school currently offers undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate programs in business administration, accounting and finance, banking, computer science, math, journalism, economics and social sciences and liberal arts. Professional development centers provide supplementary educational opportunities in a more flexible manner than is possible in formal degree programs. The Centre for Executive Education provides both general and customized short‐term courses for corporate clients and the public at large. The Centre for Excellence in Islamic Finance offers short term training on subjects relating to Islamic Finance. The Centre for Entrepreneurial Development focuses on practical training for potential entrepreneurs, including the provision of incubator facilities and mentoring.

The Centre for Business and Economic Research is dedicated to stimulate research by IBA community. The Centre for Excellence in Journalism is an initiative for the professional development, training and networking of Pakistani journalists and media professionals. The Center for Information & Communication Technology (CICT) provides short courses, workshops, diploma programs, conferences, cloud services and computing facilities and other IT enabled services to private & public organizations.

Students have opportunities to undertake some part of their education overseas if they so choose. IBA maintains formal understandings with selected foreign universities. These links allow for the transfer of academic credits between the signatories. Students also participate in a variety of sports and social activities. The Institute maintains excellent sports facilities and supports clubs through which students can participate in extracurricular activities including photography, drama, travel, social work, environmental work, and public speaking.

Distinguishing features of an IBA education include a merit‐based and highly selective admission process, rigorous curricula in all departments, the use of diverse teaching tools and methods suited to the needs of individual courses, and testing and examination processes characterized by high standards of integrity.

Community Welfare Activities

• Responsible Citizen Initiative Program:The Responsible Citizen Initiative (RCI) is a social internship program which provides an opportunity to IBA students to gain practical hands‐on experience in community service. This exposure helps students in developing a sense of deep responsibility & commitment and serves the purpose of creating awareness about the conditions and needs of various segments of our society in which they spend their entire adult life. The idea is to provide students a platform to serve the community and utilize their knowledge and skills for the betterment of marginalized strata of society.

• Talent Hunt Program:The Talent Hunt Program spreads awareness of higher education opportunities at IBA among students from remote areas and underprivileged socioeconomic backgrounds. Once identified, such students are provided with free training to prepare them for the IBA admission process. Students are selected on merit and those who are admitted to IBA are provided financial assistance according to their needs. Nearly one thousand students have been facilitated so far by the orientation training program.  To date, about 250 THP students have been admitted to our BBA/BS degree programs and 102 have successfully graduated. Other THP students have obtained entry to other higher education institutions, so the success rate of the orientation program is close to 100%.

• Entrepreneurship: IBA is working on an ambitious mission to promote the entrepreneurial mindset among the Pakistani youth. IBA has conducted special entrepreneurship training programs for men and women to help them start micro and small business ventures in various cities. Nearly five thousand men and women have benefitted from these programs and are contributing towards national development in various ways. The Youth Entrepreneurship project aims to provide Micro Entrepreneurship and Life Skills training to vulnerable youth primarily from marginalized areas of our city. IBA also collaborates with organizations for the promotion of entrepreneurship by launching entrepreneurship certificates and programs.

• Karachi Urban Lab: The Karachi Urban Lab’s mission is to promote urban-rural development that is sustainable with a focus on infrastructure, climate change, violence, gender and housing. At KUL, we nurture and develop ideas that enable explorations and connections between research, teaching, public policy dialogue and advocacy. The KUL provides an interdisciplinary, collaborative platform of research opportunities for networking across disciplines and geographies, locally and internationally; holding events and generating publications around the urgent urban issues and associated politics.

• Renewable Energy Initiative: IBA has chalked out plans for Photovoltaic solar power system through which solar panels will be installed at the IBA to reduce dependency on conventional electricity generation. Through harnessing solar energy for generating electricity, the institution aims to work towards environmental sustainability. The project is in planning phase.

• Tree Plantations and Waste Reduction: Other initiatives include activities such as Zero Waste Week which inculcates in students their responsibility to control, curtail and manage the waste properly. The institute supports and promotes all events and encourages students to work towards environmental sustainability. Regular tree plantations are conducted in campus and out of campus.

• Physical and Mental Health Clinic: The Martin Dow Health Centre was built to provide a place for initial medical care on a walk-in basis for students and staff.  The Centre has male and female paramedics, a full-time doctor and professional wellness counsellors (psychologists). It has separate male and female examination rooms, daycare rooms as well as a nursing station to provide the basic healthcare requirements to all on campus.