Academics

• Teaching System
• Examination System

Education System

IBA is famous for its education system and is proud that many new concepts pioneered by IBA have now been widely adopted in Pakistan. These include among others the use of aptitude tests for admissions, semester system, monthly exams, guest speaker sessions, seminars, industry interaction, systematic updating and upgrading of curricula, and GPA system.

IBA's education system is famous for its strict adherence to merit, transparency and fairness in the admissions process, emphasis on punctuality, continuous testing, objective evaluation, methods of instruction, strict following of the schedule, and student managed activities and interactions with the industry. Cornerstone of IBA's educational system is its strict adherence to merit in its admissions, internal examinations, and compliance with rules and regulations. Merit is strictly observed and no exceptions are made.

IBA has earned a nationwide reputation for integrity, competence, efficiency and transparency in its process of admissions. In view of its reputation for conducting transparent and fair aptitude test, IBA often conducts tests for various public and private organizations and institutions. IBA has been awarded the National Education Testing Service, NETS, project for conducting admission tests for all the public professional colleges and universities of Pakistan.

Attendance and punctuality rules are strictly followed, and students lacking in attendance are not allowed to sit in their final examination. Consequently, classes and functions start on time. Social and other functions start on time irrespective of whether the chief guest or dignitaries have arrived or not.

Examination system consists of a number of monthly tests, surprise quizzes, home assignments, class presentations, and industry projects in addition to the final examination. The progress of students is measured in a cumulative, continuous, and objective fashion over the entire semester and summarized through a grade point average.

Instruction System consists of a unique blend of classroom teaching, case method, role playing, business games, class presentations, lab work involving internet and WWW, personal research and practical training in business organizations through internships and projects. Guest speakers, seminars, conferences and other student activities provide a means for interacting with the industry.

Academic calendar and schedule is announced at least twelve months in advance. There has never been an unscheduled closure of IBA since 1979. Classes and examinations have been held on schedule even during curfew, political disturbances, riots, wheel-jam strikes, violence etc.

Student Activities consist of organizing and managing seminars, conferences, guest speaker sessions, class dinners in which corporate leaders share their experiences, picnics, dramas, magazines, social work, and other activities. These activities are entirely managed by the students and provide them exposure and training of managing interaction with the industry.

Teaching System

Students at IBA go through a rigorous process of education and training in the form of

• Lectures by teachers with full participation of the students
• Case studies of foreign and Pakistani companies
• Term Reports based on research and laboratory work
• Article Presentations from the latest journals
• Syndicate sessions whereby groups of students discuss course material to broaden their horizons
• Supervised Library Reading sessions
• Lectures by the leading corporate and business personalities in Guest Speaker sessions
• Documentary and educational films on various aspects of management , communications etc.
• Seminars
• Conferences
• Business games
• Internships
• Student activities
• Internet and World-Wide-Web

Close liaison with the industry is maintained as IBA strives to keep its curricula up to date in accordance with changes in the business environment and the evolution in the management theory. Course contents and offering are thus rationalized periodically and the course descriptions communicated to the students well in advance. Dates of hourly (monthly) exams, finals and submission of results are specified in the calendar and these deadlines are followed to the dot. IBA has not lost a single day since 1979, despite disturbance in the city. Academic calendars are set 2 years in advance and their copy is printed in the program announcement booklet.

Examination System

The goal of the IBA Examination System is to measure the academic performance of the student through an objective, continuous, and cumulative process and to communicate the results to all concerned.

The IBA examination system is the cornerstone of its educational system. It has been refined and perfected over four decades of experience. The system has been successful in ensuring the quality and credibility of IBA graduates in the job market.

The performance of students is evaluated through a continuous testing process that is spread over the entire period of studies at IBA. The process starts by first accumulating the performance of the student measured at several points over the entire semester through a grading plan consisting of monthly exams, assignments, quizzes and final exam. A letter grade is assigned to the student at the end of the course that captures the cumulative performance. The grade is converted into Grade Points. Then, the performance over all the courses in all the semesters during the entire stay at IBA is captured through a Grade Point Average (GPA). GPA of a student reflects an objective, cumulative and continuous measure of performance.

Unlike many other institutions, the results of students performance are not kept secret. They are posted on the notice board after each semester. IBA prides itself on the transparency of its examination system and uses the results to encourage positive competition among the students.

Results are mailed to home addresses. Deficiency reports of students failing in any monthly exam are sent to home address in order to enable the parents or guardians to keep track of the students performance.

A student failing to maintain the minimum GPA requirements is dropped from the roll of the institute. A student must pass the comprehensive examination after completing all the course requirements in order to be eligible for the masters degree.

Continuous Performance Evaluation throughout the Semester

Besides the final semester exam of each course, which carries forty percent of the total marks, there are a number of tests, assignments, short quizzes and term reports on which the student is evaluated throughout the semester. Hourly exams are administered every month. There are three such exams for every course in each full-length semester (the two best scores are counted towards the final grade).

Students are assigned reading material for each class session of the semester in a schedule that is distributed with the outline for the course at the start of each semester. A number of surprise quizzes are then taken during classes for ensuring that the students have come prepared to the class with the assigned reading material. Moreover, the performance of students in class discussions, written assignments, research reports etc., is evaluated and forms a part of their overall grades.

Grade Points Capture the Performance Over the Entire Semester

Grading plan of a course accumulates the overall semester performance and is not just end-of-semester final examination result. Typical grading plan is as follows

Students are rated according to the the following table:

If a student fails to submit term paper, report, home assignment and laboratory assignment, which are requirements of a course, the instructor may allow him the benefit of an "incomplete". A student who is awarded an "incomplete" in any course can get it removed within 6 weeks from the end of the term. If the requirements are not met within this time limit, the student's grade in that course is converted into a "failure". On completion of the course, however, the student does not receive any further grade, but is allowed the benefit of the numerical grade point weight of an "Incomplete".

No "make up" exam is allowed in any course under any circumstances for the full-time students.

GPA

Grade Point Average (GPA) System is, then, used to obtain a cumulative measure of the students performance over all the courses and over the entire period of stay at IBA.

The GPA is computed as follows:

Sum of (credit hours x grade point) for all courses divided by the Total number of Credit hours

Students are expected to meet the minimum GPA requirements after every semester. Students failing to meet the minimum GPA requirements are dropped from the roll of the Institute.