It’s a Small World

It’s a Small World

MORE INDIAN B-SCHOOLS ARE GOING IN FOR EXCHANGE PROGRAMS WITH FOREIGN INSTITUTIONS TO PROVIDE STUDENTS AN EXPOSURE TO GLOBAL MANAGEMENT ETHICS, CULTURE AND EDUCATION. SUSHMITA MOHAPATRA & SREERADHA BASU REPORT

HE world is shrinking, boundaries are getting blurred and geographies are changing. India Inc is on a global acquisition spree - one that creates new opportunities and challenges for workforce and managerial talent in India. And management education in India is all geared up to meet these growing needs.
Of course, it may take some time before international students can make their way to India to pursue management education, but Indian B-schools are slowly and surely ensuring that their students get a global perspective to management ethics, culture and education. A global perspective to management education is most definitely the need of the hour.
Reason enough for leading B-schools to partner with their global counterparts for student exchange programs, research associations and other collaborations. “These partnerships are important because of two reasons. One, they provide students an opportunity to get a feel of the global economy. Besides benefiting the students who go abroad, others are also benefited by way of foreign students who come here, thereby giving them an exposure to different cultures. Second, these partnerships also give us an opportunity to conduct joint research and hold joint conferences,” says Dr Anindya Sen, dean, program initiatives, IIM Calcutta.
Which is why all premier B-schools have partnerships with global management schools across the USA, Germany, France, UK, Japan and many other countries. As of now, India's leading B-school IIMAhmedabad has over 48 existing partnerships with leading business schools across the world. Of them, 11-12 are in North America, around 25 in Europe and another 11-12 in the Asia-Pacific region. Some of the well-known names include the Columbia Business School, the University of Texas and the University of British Columbia, Austin.
It's also a win-win for the students. “In today's globalised world, students, particularly those of business management, must have global exposure. It is also essential that there is a cultural and ethnic variety on campus. Since we are not able to attract many good quality foreign students, we are going for the next best thing. We are trying to get as many students as possible through exchange programs and collaborations,” says an IIM-A spokesperson.
In fact, owing to the 48-50 partner schools across the globe, students get to spend one semester abroad during which they get direct exposure to foreign culture. Last year, around 65-70 IIM-A students went abroad, while 75 foreign students came to the institute, thus ensuring that even those on campus got to interact with them.
IIM-Bangalore has exchange programs with nearly 70 global B-schools, and this year nearly 100 international students are expected to be on campus. “The international students come here for a term. This year some 60 odd students are coming in the fifth term - from September to December - and 20 international students in fourth and sixth terms. This way our students here meet their international counterparts and get a global perspective,” observes Dr G Shainesh, chairperson, student exchange program, IIM-B.
Interestingly, the Indian students who go for these programs, do not just come back with the much needed 'global' understanding of corporate practices, but amazing experiences and an understanding of corporate culture sans boundaries. Ajay Gandhi from MDI's 2003-05 batch went to Warsaw School of Economics, Poland for three months, a trimester. “The experience was truly astounding. The school was receptive to students, and Indian students could very well relate to the Polish people and economy coming from one developing country to another. The academic load was a bit less than the Indian education system, giving ample time for weekend excursions around Poland. Meeting people from places like Brazil, South Korea, Japan, and Philippines was an amazing experience. I made life-long friends from across the continents,” he says. There were nearly 180 students from across the world in Warsaw School of Economics during Ajay's visit, comprising four Indian students from MDI and IIM-B.
Yosha Gupta, from the same batch, went to HHL, Leipzig, Germany for four months, joining nine students from India and 40 from across the world for the exchange program. “It was an experience that helped me understand global economies and their management practices. Today, my work in corporate India draws a lot from my four-month experience in Germany. Working in cross-cultural teams gave me an understanding of the different business scenarios in different countries,” she says. “Travelling extensively during the program was definitely an added benefit,” she points out. These experiences do not just hone their management skills, but bring in a greater understanding of cultures, ethics and life in general.
And it is just not students who benefit from academic collaborations with global B-schools. Professors from Indian B-schools also interact with faculty abroad, drawing a lot from each other’s experiences. IIM Lucknow's professor M Janakiraman went to AIT, Bangkok as a visiting faculty and IIM-L's professor B K Mohanty visited the University of Lethbridge, Alberta and Laurentian University, Sudbury, for his research work on ‘Fuzzy Applications in e-Commerce’. The institute also had Ms Shelby R Quast, professor of Law from Catholic University of America and a visiting Fulbright Scholar on campus last year. She taught a course on international business transaction.
Widen your horizon. With academic collaborations on the rise, Indian B-schools and their students seem all geared up to face management challenges that the changing business scenarios in the world may bring.