The Hindu Business Line : UK B-school in partnership talks with IIMs

THE UK-based Cranfield School of Management has begun talks with the IIMs to forge partnerships in India, a market in which several students are keen to acquire management degrees from international institutions.

Cranfield, where about 6,000 managers study every year, also plans to become more familiar with Indian companies, especially those that recruit students with MBAs from abroad.

The institution, which has around two dozen full-time students from India, hopes to work out study tours to the IIMs. Over the last few days, Cranfield has been discussing possible ties with its Indian counterparts. Also, it has visited select companies such as Reliance and Infosys. Prof Michael Osbaldeston, Director of Cranfield, describes the latter as a "smart, youthful and world-class" organisation. The broad idea, he said, is to gauge the needs of these companies with respect to management education.

Cranfield has forged ties with select management institutions in the US and Asia. Apart from the IIMs, it also seeks to bond with `corporate universities', such as the ones in certain European countries. It is believed that, in an emerging market like India, a company such as Infosys can create a corporate university within its campus.The B-school, however, insists on a work experience of at least three years, a condition that has resulted in the average age of its students being relatively higher. "Our 31 years is somewhat in contrast to the average age of students in the IIMs and other management institutions in India," the Director said.

More students from India will lead to greater diversity at Cranfield, where the faculty includes people from Asian countries.

The B-school provides, inter alia, executive development courses as well as post-graduate masters and doctoral programmes. A large section of its students attend full-time programmes - many of them are self-sponsored and typically look for new career opportunities at the end of their course. The full-time MBA programme can be completed in 12 months.

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