IBA was established as a business school in 1955 by Pakistani government with the technical support from the Wharton School and the University of Southern California. Several prominent American professors were assigned to the IBA to develop curriculum. In 1982, it became the first Pakistani institute to offer a four-year liberal arts undergraduate degree. It remained a constituent school within the University of Karachi until, in 1994, when its status was elevated to an independent chartered university by the Sindh Government. Since 2003, IBA has expanded from a purely graduate business school to an interdisciplinary university with undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate programs.
