History
The University of South Australia was established in 1991
through the amalgamation of the South Australian Institute of Technology and the South Australian College of Advanced Education. However, it traces its history back to some of the earliest and most influential educational institutions in South Australia, dating back to the
nineteenth
century.
The International Graduate School of Business was also formed in 1991. At that time, the MBA, along with the very popular Graduate Diploma in Management (Arts), was being made available through the Elton Mayo School of Management.
Upon formation as a separate School in 1991, the IGSB began offering the Graduate Diploma in Business Administration, in addition to the Master of Business Administration degree in Adelaide.
By 1994 the IGSB was arranging short-term Executive Development courses in Adelaide in areas as diverse as Global Market Advantage and Business Process Re-engineering, and had initiated its Graduate Certificate in Management, with 50 students in the first intake. This program rapidly developed into being an enterprise-based, as well as public program.
After a period of rapid growth, the School expanded into Asia, entering into partnerships with education providers in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Malaysia to offer the MBA across the region. Our first MBAs from Hong Kong and Singapore graduated in 1995.
In 1997 the IGSB launched its online MBA, being one of the pioneers in Australia to offer a complete online environment, as distinct from the distance education mode so popular among other universities at the time. In 1997 the School also launched its MBA in Chinese to the mainland China marketplace, along with Hong Kong and Singapore.
The history of the PhD Program has followed the growth of the IGSB, with the first PhD students in Adelaide commencing in 1993, Singapore in 1993 and Hong Kong in 1994.
In 1999 the IGSB and Le Cordon Bleu International launched the MBA (International Hotel & Restaurant Management).
In
2006 the IGSB was invited to become an Associate Member of the European
Academy of Business in Society. We are the only Business School in Australia
to be a member.
EABIS was established by 15 founding partners in 2002 after their CEOs
and Deans agreed the urgent need for more and better knowledge and skills on
business in society issues.
These 15 multinationals and major Universities,
remain active members today.
In 2004 the
Division of Business secured
accreditation from the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD)
under its European Quality Improvement System (EQUIS). EQUIS is one of
the two major international forms of accreditation for business
education providers;
the other is that of the Association for the Advancement of Collegiate
Schools of Business (AACSB) which is based in the United States. UniSA
chose to apply for EQUIS accreditation as the European system stresses
many things which are important to the University of South Australia,
including internationalisation, diversity and links with the corporate
world. The EFMD also offers opportunities to its member organisations
for learning, development and strengthening of collegial academic
relationships.
During 2003 the IGSB became a member of the prestigious Consortium of the European
Summer School of Advanced Management (ESSAM). This enables our students to
attend the Summer School in the last week of June and first week of July
each year. The 2004 and 2005 Summer Schools were held at Aarhus in
Denmark.
Today, the IGSB is one of Australia's major graduate business schools, with over 2,000 students around the world, and more than 30 highly qualified academic staff from a wide range of disciplines, including sustainable organisations, risk management, leadership, entrepreneurship, as well as the more conventional management areas of strategy, marketing, human resource management, international business, accounting, finance and economics.
Our MBA is currently taught in Adelaide, China, Hong Kong and Singapore. Through our Academic Leadership Scheme, the content, delivery and assessment of our MBA courses are rigorously managed and evaluated within a quality framework. Our participants can choose to attend courses in these and other selected countries to gain a first hand international experience that very few business schools in the world can offer.
