Thomas Cook launches University Tours

Travel company Thomas Cook has launched University Tours in collaboration with education consultancy firm The Red Pen College Tours in the United States. The Tours will take Indian students on a tour of select colleges and universities in the US to help them decide where they want to pursue their higher studies.

Students will be taken to campuses of leading universities such as Stanford University, University of California - Los Angeles, Harvard University, New York University and Princeton University.

According to a release from Thomas Cook, traditional route of online research and word-of-mouth has fallen short of providing Indian students and their parents a realistic and hands on perspective.

The University Tours are expected to give prospective students and their parents a glimpse into university life experiences with visits to the US colleges, interactions with students and university admission advisors.

The tour operators promise customized sessions and workshops at some universities, a pre-departure workshop on the US university admission process and on how to select a university for parents and students, workshops to guide students on how to select majors and careers, how to prepare resumes and individual counselling after the trip.

According to the release, Shibani Phadkar, senior vice-president and head, Leisure Travel (Outbound) Products of Thomas Cook (India), says: "This initiative is aimed at giving students a vibrant firsthand perspective of what to expect when pursuing their undergraduate studies in America. On-ground counselling and interactions with local students and counsellors make for engaging sessions while ensuring selection of an apt university."

Soumitra Dutta named new Johnson dean

Soumitra Dutta, a professor of business and technology and founder and faculty director of a new media and technology innovation lab at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France, will become the eleventh dean of the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University effective July 1, 2012, Cornell President David J. Skorton announced today.

Soumitra Dutta: Scaling new heights

Academics of Indian origin such as Harvard Business School Dean Nitin Nohria, and Chicago Booth Dean Sunil Kumar are scaling the professional ladder in the west. In appointing Dutta, Johnson becomes the first major business school in the United States to hire a dean from a business school outside the country. INSEAD, with campuses in Fontainebleau, France; Singapore, and Abu Dhabi, UAE, is one of the top-ranked graduate business schools worldwide.

Dutta himself has served visiting professorships in Haas School at UC Berkeley, Oxford Internet Institute at University of Oxford, and Judge School at University of Cambridge in England, as well as advised several governments with their national information and innovation policies and consulted with leading international organisations.

“Professor Dutta’s appointment is a natural fit with Johnson’s increasingly global outlook,” said Skorton. “He has expertise in new and emerging media, he has studied the conditions that promote innovation and he has extensive experience on the international stage. Among other qualities, these prepare him well to oversee the education of our next-generation business leaders and entrepreneurs. Johnson students, Cornellians who take courses at Johnson and, in the very near future, aspiring entrepreneurs at our new tech campus in New York City will benefit from this appointment.” Dutta received a B Tech. in electrical engineering and computer science from the Indian Institute of Technology and an MS in business administration, an MS in computer science and a PhD in computer science from the University of California at Berkeley.

Wharton’s programme for Indian leaders

“Learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn.” (Peter F Drucker)

As Indian companies scale for global aspirations in a rapidly changing economic environment, good business strategy demands that senior executives and managers are trained in specific skills to keep pace with the organisation’s growth plan.

In recent years, India’s executive education sector has been growing by leaps and bounds. With economic growth creating a need for skilled human capital, leading business schools such as the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and Indian School of Business at Hyderabad are focusing on executive education programmes. International schools such as Harvard Business School, Oxford University and the University of Western Ontario are also making a beeline for the market.

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania has announced the launch of a new non-degree business certificate programme in India beginning January 2012. Called the Accelerated Development Program (ADP), this new certificate is designed to meet the current needs of global business leaders with high potential in India.

"The Accelerated Development Program exemplifies Wharton's commitment to global business education as it will bring Wharton's world-class faculty and thought leadership to business executives in India," explained Wharton Vice Dean Jason Wingard who made the announcement of the programme yesterday at the School's Global Engagement Series event held in Mumbai, India.

Harbir Singh, Wharton's Vice Dean of Global Initiatives and the Mack Professor of Management, says the present is an ideal time to launch such a programme in India. "There is a growing emphasis on internationalisation for organisations in India," Singh says. "Business leaders must be well aware of the need to build globally competitive enterprises, and how today's highly interconnected world affects everything from innovation to finance to leadership. You can't create and maintain a competitive advantage without a global perspective."

The Accelerated Development Program is designed to bring that perspective to India's global business leaders with high potential. The certificate programme will offer courses in Mumbai and Gurgaon, India in topics such as Strategic Thinking, Finance, Marketing, and Leadership.

What distinguishes Wharton's Accelerated Development Program from other business school programmes currently offered in India is that it will go beyond the classroom sessions to help participants become more reflective and proactive in managing their careers. All participants who choose to complete the certificate will receive coaching and professional assessments. Also, they will be eligible to attend an executive education programme at the Wharton School's Philadelphia campus in the United States. No other business school in India currently offers these types of additional benefits.

"Business leaders today need a higher level of proactivity and self-reflection during their careers," says Singh, who will teach in the Accelerated Development Program. "The pace of change demands a take-charge approach, and coaching is an important component."

To be awarded the certificate, participants must complete three of the courses within two years.