As a part of the process IIM Sambalpur welcomed Prof. Teguh Dartanto from Universitas Indonesia who is serving as the official AACSB mentor of the institute. He visited both the Delhi and Sambalpur campuses from July 27 to 31. He sat down with the important people at the institute such as the director, students, alumni and recruiters to know about the existing practices and assist the team with the accreditation process. He also contributed to formulating the strategy for the next key action developing the Initial Self-Evaluation Report (iSER).

A key highlight of the visit was also the ceremonial presentation of the AACSB Membership Certificate. On July 28 at the Delhi campus Prathap Das who is the Regional Head of South Asia (AACSB) presented the certificate to Prof. Mahadeo Jaiswal who is the acting Director of IIM Sambalpur. This served as the official commencement of the institute's journey towards achieving global business school credentials.

In his speech, Prof. Jaiswal indicated that IIM Sambalpur is totally devoted to imparting world-class education and meeting international standards. He extended a welcome to Prof. Teguh as a mentor and indicated the institute's commitment to adhering to AACSB's global standards.

The trip also entailed in-depth discussions with faculty members, administrators and accreditation teams regarding key AACSB standards. Issues such as the quality of teaching, student performance, faculty credentials, contribution to research and contribution to society were discussed.

While on a campus visit Prof. Teguh was impressed with IIM Sambalpur's state-of-the-art infrastructure such as smart classrooms, technology-mediated learning tools, digital library and its endeavour to aid local weavers through initiatives like the "Master Weaver" scheme. He particularly pointed out the institute's application of Artificial Intelligence in pedagogy and referred to it as a revolutionary move. He urged the institute to continue engaging all the concerned stakeholders as they proceed with the accreditation process. Prof. Teguh was confident that IIM Sambalpur with its vision and team culture will be able to obtain AACSB accreditation soon.