Breaking barriers

New Delhi, July 11: India?s best-known B-schools are preparing to establish beachheads abroad. The Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Bangalore, is planning to offer courses in Singapore, while arch-rival IIM Ahmedabad is going to Egypt.

The other grandee of B-schools ? IIM Calcutta ? is bemused by all the fuss. It claims that it?s been the pioneer in this area having offered short-duration courses for executives overseas for several years.

IIM-C has been offering its short duration (one day to three weeks) management development programmes (MDPs) at several overseas destinations. In the past, such MDPs have been conducted in Colombo, Dubai, Dhaka, and Kuala Lumpur. This year it will be held at Cape Town in South Africa.

?Yes, the IIMs are thinking of going global. We are definitely planning and are open to the idea of overseas collaborations. However, the introduction of full-time and extensive courses needs due diligence and research. We would rather go a bit slow on this,? said Indira Parekh, dean-academics, IIM-Ahmedabad.

The IIM-Bangalore foray into Singapore is a little more ambitious than the other two B-schools. To begin with, the institute plans to offer an executive development programme (EDP) by the end of this year. The course will be for approximately two weeks. But by next year, it hopes to offer a full-length MBA programme.

?A committee comprising internal faculty is at the moment working on the finer details. The report is expected to be submitted in the next couple of weeks. While the full-fledged MBA programme will be launched by next year, the short duration EDP course will be introduced by the year-end,? Prakash Apte, director of IIM-B, told The Telegraph.

Apte said the committee is still working on the course content and the fee structure. Professors from IIM-B will teach the students overseas as well. However, from time to time, the institute may source local faculty for guest lectures. The EDP course offered will be across all disciplines ? information technology, finance and human resources.

The IIM-B initiative will be hosted at Bhavan? Indian International School, with the institute sharing its lecture halls, seminar and conference rooms, library and computer centre.

IIM-B will be the third business school from among Wall Street Journal's list of top 100 B-schools to set up an offshore campus. The other two are INSEAD, Fontainbleau and the Chicago Graduate Business School. It will also face competition from two Singapore business schools: National University of Singapore?s Business School (a very highly rated institute in the Asia Pacific region) and Nanyang Business School.

From next year, IIM-B will offer a range of innovative programmes, including part-time MBA programmes for middle-level executives, executive MBA programmes for senior-level executives, short duration education programmes for managers and customised executive education programmes for companies.

The admission procedure, course content and the evaluation of the course will be as rigorous as that at IIM-B.

IIM-B?s decision to open a campus in Singapore assumes significance in the light of the recent Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) signed between the two countries.

Apart from setting trends in other sectors, the pact involves significant cooperation in the field of education and will facilitate the recognition of degrees awarded by top Indian institutions. ?Yes, this will certainly give a boost. However, the initiative had been planned six months back,? said Apte.

Meanwhile, IIM-Ahmedabad has already signed a three-year memorandum of understanding with the Future Generation Foundation (FGF) in Egypt. FGF is a non-government organisation funded by the industrialists of Egypt.

Under the agreement, the institute will offer a three-week general management programme. The first batch began in May, while the next programme is scheduled to take place in November.

IIM Calcutta isn?t yet considering long-duration courses abroad. ?At the moment, there are no plans to offer a full-time course. However, we are open to the idea of expanding,? said Anup Sinha, dean-programme initiative, IIM-C.