Gordon Institute of Business Science

The Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) affiliated with the University of Pretoria, is a business school situated in Illovo, Johannesburg, South Africa. The institution has received accreditation from the Council on Higher Education (CHE) in South Africa and the Association of MBAs (AMBA) internationally.

GIBS offers programs including the Masters in Business Administration (MBA), Postgraduate Diploma in Business Administration (PDBA), and Doctor of Business Administration (DBA/PHD). In 2012, the GIBS DBA became the first South African doctoral program in business to receive international accreditation from AMBA. GIBS also offers various executive programs: short courses, executive-level program like the Global Executive Development and General Management Program, and company-specific programs. Extended programs are longer certificate programs and include the Social Entrepreneurship Programs, Leading Women Programs, and Nexus Leadership Programs.

History and campus
GIBS was established in January 2000 following a contribution by Sir Donald Gordon, the founder of Liberty Life and Liberty International, and a major investment by the University of Pretoria following discussions that started in 1998. The business school follows on the university's Graduate School of Management's long tradition of MBA tuition. Founded in 1949, the GSM MBA was the first MBA program to be launched outside of North America. The GSM, as of January 2008, was formally replaced by the Gordon Institute of Business Science.

GIBS is situated in a greenfield campus on Illovo Boulevard, a mixed-use commercial node between the suburbs of Rosebank and Sandton in Johannesburg, with a satellite inner city campus on Pritchard Street. Accommodation is provided on the Illovo campus by the on-campus Illovo Hotel. The Illovo campus is served by the Rosebank Gautrain station, with a nearby Gautrain bus stop and the inner city campus by the Johannesburg Park Station.


 * Sir Donald Gordon

Sir Donald Gordon (24 June 1930 – 21 November 2019) was a South African businessman and philanthropist. He was educated at King Edward VII School in Johannesburg before doing his articles to be a Chartered Accountant at the firm Kessel Feinstein (now Grant Thornton). He founded the Liberty Life Association of Africa in 1957, out of which he formed Transatlantic Insurance Holdings plc, now Liberty International (a property portfolio of £6.2 billion (2009)) and Liberty Holdings Limited (total assets of R449 billion (2011)). He was a co-founder of the British company Abbey Life. In June 2005, he was awarded a British knighthood in recognition of his services to the arts and business.

Academics
In 2021, the school had 35 permanent faculty members, 29 adjunct faculty members, 11 international faculty members, 8 extraordinary professors, and 1 honorary professor (80% of faculty members hold a doctorate ). Past and present faculty members include Gill Marcus (ninth Governor of the South African Reserve Bank) and Nick Binedell.

Company-specific programs clients include Standard Bank, Anglo American PLC, ABSA, SABMiller, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the South African National Treasury. The company-specific programs have been delivered in 22 countries and include certificates in senior management development, wealth management, middle management development as well as its foundation management development.