THE Institute of Management Sciences, (IMS) has entered into a formal purchase agreement with the ICD Group Limited to acquire the real and intellectual properties of the local higher educational institution, the Institute of Management and Production, (IMP).
After ten months of intensive negotiations and several local and overseas due diligence exercises, IMS' offer was chosen from a field of four other well established local and overseas higher education institutions including the UWI, UTech, NCU and Nova South Eastern University.
The actual purchase price for the business was not disclosed. However, it was revealed a few months ago in an early report appearing in the media that the Matalons who control the ICD Group of Companies, of which IMP was a major subsidiary, had asked for J$82 million minimum for the real estate property alone. According to Joseph M. Matalon, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of ICD Group Limited, the 25-year-old IMP no longer fits into its current core business strategy and hence the reason for the sale. In making the statement, Mr. Matalon advised that "every effort has been made for all programmes currently being offered at IMP and its two outreach centres in Mandeville and Ocho Rios to be continued."
Twenty-five years ago, the Institute of Management & Production started as the training arm for the ICD Group of Companies, and later opened its doors to the wider public to meet the needs for human resource development in the field of management and production.
A wide range of management development programme and general consultancy services in the areas of organisational development, human resource management and research are also offered to corporate entities on a customised basis. The two-acre campus today, boasts some thirteen lecture rooms, a library and three highly equipped, state of the art computer labora-tories.
This latest potential acquisition by IMS of the intellectual property and programmes of IMP signals the second such acquisition for the ten-year-old institution since it took control of the business degree programmes, offered by the College of Insurance and Professional Studies, CIPS in Kingston, Montego Bay and Westmoreland in January 2001.
According to Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of IMS, Winston Adams, "we are breaking new frontiers in tertiary education and are tooling up to effectively compete in the higher education free market."
He indicated that "with this major and strategic acquisition, we are not only significantly expanding our business operations in Jamaica and hopefully the Caribbean, but ensuring that much higher levels of efficiency and effectiveness are achieved".
The IMS Chairman, President and CEO said the acquisition would also assist in reducing operational costs through shared support service and staff. According to him, "the growth of revenue was undoubtedly one of the objectives of the purchase, and the combined synergy is expected to result in even greater levels of profitability. This will be fairly attainable, as over the past five years, IMP has consistently shown an attractive operating profit of some 70 per cent."
Mr. Adams also went on to add that "the legal and financial processes are expected to be fully completed by the middle of September and we will be able to start the functional integration of the two organisations." Annually, there are up to six thousand mid and senior level working professionals who pursue courses at both institutions on a part-time and full-time basis.
Programmes range from the certificate to the masters degree levels and many are already offered in partnership with reputable local and US universities and other degree granting institutions such as the Florida International University, FIU and the University Council of Jamaica, UCJ which respectively offer the FIU EMBA degree, B.Sc. in Hospitality Management, a BBA degree, a B.Sc. in Computer Science and a joint IMP/UCJ B.Sc. degree in Human Resource Management.
In addition, it is expected that there will be at least four new graduate and undergraduate degree programmes, to be launched between January 2003 and March 2003, which will be offered by FIU and at least one other highly reputable US university.
The new combined IMS/IMP institutions, along with their international and local partners, make the alliance the largest private higher education conglomerate in Jamaica and one of the largest in the Caribbean.
"Our valued students and participants, therefore, will continue to have increasing access to more quality higher educational programmes both at the bachelor and graduate degree levels right here in Jamaica through formal articulation and transfer credit arrangements with our US partners". This is significant given the current drive by the Government to increase access to higher education, for the eligible cohort in Jamaica, to at least 15 per cent by 2005, a target set by CARICOM a few years ago.
Currently, access for the eligible age cohort is still at an unacceptable low of only 9 per cent. Mr. Adams indicated that, "like many other local and overseas tertiary institutions, we are beginning to engage in a process of reinventing ourselves and to promote best practices in the delivery of all our higher educational programmes in a concerted effort to become more student-centred and indeed more student friendly. Our participants therefore will become our principal focus".
Asked whether there would be job losses as a result of the take over, Mr. Adams said that "with any acquisition or merger, there could be job losses, but we don't expect any at this time.
There are currently five branches and approximately 75 full-time administrative and 125 academic staff members between IMS and IMP, and so within the next three months we will have to engage in a series of mutually beneficial discussions with the current staff in assessing for ourselves the level and interests of our human capital". "We will need to determine how focused, loyal and committed the staff will continue to be and their medium to long term expectations of the joint institutions."
Incorporated in January 1992, the Institute of Management Sciences is a self-supporting, higher educational institution, governed by a board of trustees.
One decade later, the Institute has a comprehensive outreach centre in Jamaica's second city, Montego Bay, offering a range of diploma and degree level programmes in western Jamaica.
The Institution has grown to become one of the top two private higher educational institutions in Jamaica, having gained programmatic accreditation and matriculation status from the local accrediting body, the University Council of Jamaica, UCJ and the University of the West Indies.
In 1996, IMS began forming some unique local and international alliances that became integral to its success in Jamaica. Corporate partnerships were formed with Sandals, Resorts International, Air Jamaica, American Airlines, and the British Executive Services Overseas in England. Only recently, a new three-year multi-million dollar trade contract was signed with Air Jamaica, the designated official carrier for overseas university lecturers participating in the many international degree programmes being sponsored by IMS in Jamaica.
