The Hindu : National : Keeping pace with industry dynamics

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 20, 2006
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National

Keeping pace with industry dynamics

Meera Srinivasan

MBA course gives students a chance to observe global markets

LEARNING CURVE: Students of the S.P. Jain Center of Management, Singapore, in their classroom.

SINGAPORE: Come December, students at the Singapore and Dubai campuses of the S.P. Jain Center of Management will swap classrooms for the next six months.

The B-school's global MBA programme facilitates an arrangement under which students pursuing the one-year course will spend six months at the Singapore campus and six months at the Dubai campus. The course will begin simultaneously at both campuses.

"After the commoditisation of MBA programmes, it has become important for B-schools to differentiate themselves. And they have to keep pace with the dynamics of the industry," said Nitish Jain, president of the Center.

The one-year programme was started to give students global exposure, and two campuses were set up in countries that were global hubs for several businesses. Mr. Jain said students witnessed the rapid development in the two countries and compared it with the scenario back home, and thus had an opportunity to interpret market dynamics better.

He said the programmes offered equipped students to adapt themselves to new environments. "We are not creating participants for a pre-determined environment. Our students can easily meet the requirements of global markets."

Dean of the Global MBA programme Vijay Sethi said the course, apart from giving students a good understanding of the basics of management, enhanced their domain knowledge. "We offer specialisations such as logistics management and retail management, which are in great demand," Mr. Sethi said.

The Center's sprawling campus on Hyderabad Road in Singapore (which was once the Nizam of Hyderabad's home there and later functioned as a dental hospital) is filled with greenery. The property, leased from the Government of Singapore, has been converted into a WiFi enabled zone.

The Ministry of Education, Government of Singapore, also granted `Institution of Higher Learning' status to the Center. Frequent guest lectures by eminent academicians and industry leaders are organised. Each class is videographed and archived to benefit students and faculty members. The course fee is $22,000. "We take care of everything from processing visas and booking tickets to receiving students at the airport," Mr. Jain said.

The Dubai campus boasts of 100 per cent placement in the last two years and things would be no different at the Singapore campus, Mr. Jain said.

GMAT, CAT or XAT scores are considered for the first round of admission. Candidates could also take the aptitude test designed for the course. For further details, visit http://www.spjain.org/.

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