Helping hand

Jamshedpur, Oct. 17: In its effort to expand its horizon abroad, XLRI School of Business and Human Resources has decided to tie up with three universities based in Australia.

Officials of the B-school said three Australian universities — Victoria University, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University and Monash University — have shown interest in collaborating with the institute.

The management institute had initiated negotiations with the foreign universities. A formal agreement is likely to be signed in November.

Dean (academics) Pingali Venugopal, during his recent trip to Australia, made presentations about the B-school at the RMIT University.

Venugopal was in Australia between October 10 and 15. During his brief stay, he met the top authorities of the three universities.

He told The Telegraph that during his meeting with the authorities of the Australian universities, he discussed the various aspects on which the tie-up could be made. According to Venugopal, the tie-up would primarily focus on four issues — students’ exchange, faculty exchange, initiating joint international collaborative programmes and joint collaborative research work.

Moreover, it would also make a dent into cross-cultural aspects. The objective of such a tie-up is to provide more exposure to the students and faculty members. It would also help in promoting quality research work in the field of management, finance and other related subjects.

Officials of the B-school informed that apart from Australia, talks are on with a few universities in China for venturing into a similar tie-up.

Impressed with the annual campus recruitment and other achievements of the students, several foreign universities have approached the management institute for tie-ups on various fronts.

Significantly, last year the B-school had entered into a similar tie-up with two universities in Sweden and Philippines.

As part of the tie-up, two students from Sweden — Niklas Larsson and Anna Jacobsson — are presently undergoing a student-exchange programme at the institute.

Similarly, six students of the B-school are presently attending exchange programmes at the universities in Sweden and Philippines.