Loyola Institute of Business Administration (LIBA), one amongst the country’s premier business schools and a part of the hoary Chennai based Loyola College, has today(18/01/2006) become a full-fledged research institution and the first B-school to be recognized by the University of Madras to conduct Doctoral programmes in Business Administration. Chief Guest, Dr. Jagdish N. Sheth, renowned marketing guru and Charles H Kellstadt Professor of Marketing, Emory University, inaugurated LIBA’s Ph.D. Programme today.

At the inauguration, Dr. Sheth also delivered the inaugural address titled Making India Globally Competitive. Fr. P. Christie S J, Director, LIBA, welcomed the gathering. Fr. Jeyaraj S J, Rector, Loyola College and Dr. Anne Mary Fernandez, Registrar, University of Madras felicitated. Dr. Victor Louis Anthuvan, Research Coordinator, LIBA, delivered the Vote of Thanks.

The recognition and approval of LIBA as a Centre for Excellence and Research in Management studies by the University of Madras has earned LIBA the coveted distinction of being the first management institution to have earned this academic honour without having affiliation for master level programmes. LIBA is also the only B-school to be accredited to an external University body for conferring the Ph.D. degree.

“The uniqueness of the programme is that unlike other major business schools who offer only a Fellow Programme in Management, LIBA offers a Ph.D. degree. We have all the academic facilities and necessary infrastructure needed to offer a Ph.D. programme. More than 50% of the full time faculty have a Ph.D. degree, backed by extensive industrial and academic experience. In addition, many of the visiting faculty have Ph.D. degrees,” elaborated Father Christie, Director, LIBA.

Students can now enrol for both full time and part time Ph.D. programmes. The maximum intake for the PhD program is 50. Scholarships are available to the students registered for PhD degree in various subjects at LIBA. Nine doctoral guides in the various disciplines of management, such as Marketing, Finance, Economics, Systems, HRM and Operations will guide our research scholars.

“We are looking to foster quality research in management studies and take up research projects that will strengthen industry – institute interaction. Over the years, we want to become a bridge for continuous flow of knowledge from the practising management fraternity to research scholars and academia,” Father Christie added.