About WeSchool

Established in 1977, WeSchool works under the aegis of S.P. Mandali Trust, one of the oldest trusts in the space of education country. WeSchool ranks among the premier Business Schools nationally and has campuses in Mumbai and Bengaluru. We strongly believe in combining the ideology of 'leadership' and fostering sustainability to shape a brighter future. We have introduced several pioneering management programs in business design & innovation, e-business, retail, rural, healthcare, media & entertainment, research & business analytics. We work closely with organizations across different business domains and verticals on live projects, consulting, and training assignments, with application-based research as an integral part of the education ecosystem.

About ACBSP

The Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP) is an extensive global network comprising 11 geographical regions spanning the world. Encompassing more than 1,200 member campuses and over 13,000 individual members from 60 countries, ACBSP plays a crucial role in advancing business education and fostering academic excellence.

Region 10 of ACBSP, representing South Asia, is responsible for overseeing 16 countries and 56 member campuses within its jurisdiction (For more information about the South Asia Council of ACBSP, please visit https://acbsp.org/group/region%2010). As part of its commitment to promoting research, and innovative business ideas for entrepreneurial concepts in the field of business education, ACBSP Region 10 is issuing a call for scholarly contributions in the form of research papers (including the Best of Region competition), Student Showcase, and the School of Thought competition.

These contributions will be presented at the prestigious ACBSP Region 10 Annual Conference 2025, scheduled to take place from 26th February to 2nd March 2025. The event will be organized by S. P. Mandali's Prin. L. N. Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research, Mumbai and Bengaluru (India) campus jointly and will receive essential technical and financial support from ACBSP Home Office, USA.

ACBSP Region 10 Council Members

About the Conference

The theme for the ACBSP Region 10 Annual Conference 2025 is:

"BRIDGES ACROSS BORDERS: COLLABORATIVE STRATEGIES FOR ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL SUCCESS"

With the increasing globalization of the workplace, ensuring students are prepared for this world is more imperative than ever. Bridging borders that are international in focus can help students' success by building their cultural intelligence through conversations and experiences. Bridging borders that are domestic in focus could involve different types of institutions or different geographic regions. The 2025 ACBSP Region 10 conference will explore what collaborations can be made across our membership, across our international borders, or other less defined borders to promote student success and also to enhance teaching effectiveness.

In today's interconnected world, the challenges and opportunities we face are increasingly global in nature. Academic institutions and professional organizations are no longer confined by geographic boundaries. Instead, they are part of a vast, dynamic network that thrives on the exchange of ideas, knowledge, and resources. Our ability to collaborate across borders is not just advantageous-it is essential for driving innovation, addressing global challenges, and achieving excellence.

The ACBSP Region 10 Annual Conference 2025 will feature plenary sessions with renowned experts, panel discussions with academicians and practitioners, and dedicated tracks for student paper presentations. We invite original research papers for presentation from industry practitioners, doctoral scholars, academicians, and students on the theme of the conference. Together, we endeavor to shape the future of business education and ensure its relevance in an ever-changing global landscape.

Who Should Attend the Conference

This conference is open to all, including the attendees from the following categories:

1. ACBSP Region 10 member institutions
2. Educators and students
3. Researchers
4. Industry professionals
5. Policymakers and government professionals
6. Industry and professional associations
7. NGOs

This conference aims to explore innovative strategies, research findings, and practical approaches that foster academic excellence and career readiness among students at all educational levels.

Conference Structure

This conference will be a platform for academicians, research scholars, and industry practitioners to come together, to learn, share, and discuss with thought leaders, education experts, and learning experts. This would be a great knowledge-sharing event for a diverse audience embracing international and national speakers and participants. The conference will feature keynote presentations from distinguished experts in the field of business education and successful industry leaders who have demonstrated exceptional commitment to fostering partnerships for student success. The conference highlights include plenary sessions on technology, leadership, and sustainability with renowned experts, panel discussions with academicians and practitioners, and dedicated tracks for student paper presentations.

Conference Fee Details

Mumbai Day Excursions (Optional)

Conference Team

The Best of Region Award (for faculty)

The International Best of Regions Excellence Award is awarded to honor exceptional research presentations given by ACBSP members with the ACBSP Annual Conference theme. The competition starts at the regional level, where the research presentations will be evaluated by a panel of judges. The presentation with the highest score will be named the “Best of Region” at the ACBSP Region 10 Conference in Mumbai and will proceed to the next stage of the competition. After further evaluations by the ACBSP regional officers, selected papers will be eligible for the Best of Regions Award (International) at the ACBSP Annual Conference 2025, to be held on June 18 – 22, 2025, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Eligibility criteria:

• To participate in this competition, an author team must comprise of only academicians (faculty, researchers, professionals). Students and research scholars are not eligible for this award category.
• At least one of the authors must be from an ACBSP member institution.

The Student Showcase Award

This is an excellent professional development opportunity for students at all levels of higher business education to showcase their research presentations. The ACBSP Student Showcase Award begins at the regional level where student presentations are evaluated by a panel of judges who will select one student/team to represent their region. The selected students then move on to the International Stage of the competition. At the international selection stage, the ACBSP Conference Planning Committee will evaluate the best student presentation from each region and select only one to be featured at the ACBSP Student Showcase during ACBSP Conference 2025, to be held on June 18 - 22, 2025, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Eligibility criteria:

• To participate in this competition, an author team must have only students (including research scholars).
• The lead student author must be from an ACBSP member institution.
• All students of the author team are required to submit a letter of nomination from the educational institution at the time of online registration.

The School of Thought Award (for students)

The Student School of Thought recognizes the most innovative and impactful business pitches from students. At the regional level, student teams will present their business pitches which will be evaluated by a panel of judges during the Region 10 ACBSP to be held in Mumbai in February 2025. The top team will then be identified and announced. After the conference, the Council of Regional Chairs will evaluate the top teams from all the other regions to select finalist teams to be featured during the ACBSP Conference 2025, to be held on June 18 – 22, 2025, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Eligibility criteria:

• To participate in this competition, a student team must have at least one member from an ACBSP member institution.
• Shortlisted teams have to present their pitches in person during the Mumbai Conference.
• All students of the author team are required to submit a letter of nomination from the educational institution at the time of online registration.

In addition to the announced three award categories, WeSchool will be presenting prizes for winners in each of these categories.

Conference Tracks

We invite the submission of high-quality scholarly papers linked to the conference theme in the suggested themes below. The authors are welcome to choose alternate topics related to the theme of the conference. We welcome papers from various disciplines and methodological perspectives to promote interdisciplinary collaboration and knowledge exchange. When selecting papers, the Conference Committee will prioritize quality over quantity, ensuring that all conference participants have an informative experience. Topics of submission include, but are not limited to, the following:

1. Fostering collaboration

• Cross-border research collaborations - Opportunities and challenges
• Think local, act global - Strategies for global collaborations
• Global mindset: Breaking boundaries for limitless potential

2. Industry-academia connect for academic excellence

• Industry-academia collaboration for innovation & research
• International business strategies - Strategic alliances and partnerships
• Student exchange/immersion programs - Crafting a win-win solution
• Education and entrepreneurship

3. Leadership - Leading the change & innovation

• Strategic leadership - Significance of ethics and governance in business schools
• Leadership and management in cross-cultural settings
• Focusing on stakeholders - Policy advocacy initiatives

4. Sustainability & inclusive growth for a brighter tomorrow

• One Earth - Collaborating for climate change
• Sustainable business practices and corporate responsibility
• Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in business education: A regional focus

5. Architecting digital ecosystems - For a borderless world

• Digital transformation in business education
• Role of technology in academic excellence

6. Institute-Faculty-Student-focused innovative initiatives

• Innovative pedagogy - Integration of theory & practice for global education
• Shaping Gen-Z students - Teaching-learning methods for higher engagement & experiential learning
• Pushing the learning frontiers: Experiments, experiences, critiques, and ideas

7. Domain-specific areas such as Marketing, Human Resources, Finance, Operations, & Cross-Specialization areas.

Submission Guidelines

We invite original contributions on the above-mentioned themes. Authors are requested to first submit an extended abstract of the paper. Paper submissions that have an academician as the lead author will be considered in the academician track. Similarly, paper submissions that have a student as the lead author will be considered in the Student Showcase track. Upon review of the extended abstracts, authors will be invited to submit full papers and subsequently present their papers at the conference. The guidelines for the submission process are given below:

Extended abstracts - academicians and students

• The extended abstract must not exceed 1,200 words and must include the research problem, methodology, and results.
• Please follow the APA Style guidelines while preparing your abstracts.
• All submissions must be in PDF format.
• Please submit your extended abstracts here

Full papers for academicians

• Abstract not exceeding 300 words, along with 5-6 keywords.
• Full papers should not exceed 6,000 words (including tables, illustrations, photographs, and appendices).
• Please follow the APA Style guidelines while preparing your full papers.
• All submissions must be in PDF format.

Full papers for students (For consideration for the Student Showcase award)

• Abstract not exceeding 300 words, along with 5-6 keywords.
• Student showcase papers or presentations (not abstracts, only full papers) may be between 3,000 and 4,000 words, including tables, illustrations, photographs, and appendices.
• Please follow the APA Style guidelines while preparing your full papers.
• All submissions must be in PDF format.

School of Thought submissions

• Teams should be made up of 2-3 students pitching an entrepreneurial idea.
• The following documents are mandatory:
  • A pitch deck (pdf format) (Click here for the template)
  • An executive summary (Click here for the template)
  • A competitive analysis (Click here for the template)
• The following documents are optional:
  • Financials (Click here for the template)
  • An introductory video (30secs max in mp4 format, & 100mb maximum size) (Click here for the instructions)
• Please submit your business pitches here

Publication Opportunities

A key highlight of this Conference includes several publication opportunities such as:

• Outstanding papers will be invited to submit to an indexed journal (SCOPUS/ABDC) dedicated to this conference, ensuring global visibility and recognition in the academic community.
• All accepted papers presented at the Conference will be published in the Conference proceedings with ISBN, offering international visibility.
• Selected papers will be invited to be a part of an edited book to be published by a leading publishing house.
• Selected papers will be invited to submit to a special issue of aWeshkar, an in-house bi-annual peer-reviewed journal (listed in the EBSCO databases).

Note: The review, processing, and publication of the shortlisted full papers will adhere to the norms of the respective publication outlets.

Key Dates and Deadlines

For Extended Abstracts and Full Papers

For School of Thought

Best Paper Award

The Best Paper Award will be presented under Student and Faculty category. In order to qualify for the best paper award, full paper must be presented at the conference.

Key Dates and Deadlines

Target Audience

Academicians, Corporate Executives, Research Scholars, Students, Practitioners, Subject Experts and Policy makers

Conference Patron

Conference Lead

Organising Committee