Study in Latvia centre opens in Chennai

Latvia is the newest name in a growing list of foreign study destinations for Indian students. A conglomerate of seven Latvian universities launched a "Study in Latvia Centre (SLC)" in Chennai last week. 

Latvia University

According to Professor Leonids Ribickis, the Rector of Riga Technical University, Latvia offered "vast education opportunities and international exposure." Imants Bergs, Vice-Rector in Turiba University said that a cooperation agreement between the Governments of Latvia and India enabled mutual recognition of issued qualifications, besides allowing Indian students to apply for Latvian government scholarships.

The Centre is founded by Riga Technical University, Turiba University, Liepaja University, Latvia University, B A School of Business and Finance, Latvia University of Agriculture and Riga International School of Economics and Business Administration, all based in Latvia.

For information on tuition fees and living expenditures, take a look at the University of Latvia information sheet on fees for 2013-14.

LSE scholarships for India

The London School of Economics (LSE) is offering 50 scholarships to students from India studying a Master’s programme at the School starting in 2013. Scholarships will range in value from £3,000 to £32,000 depending on financial need. Students must be holding an offer of a place on an LSE Master’s programme by 30 April 2013 to be eligible for an award and scholarships will be made on the basis of financial need.

LSE Director Professor Craig Calhoun said “LSE has enjoyed a strong relationship with India for over a century. This has included welcoming thousands of Indian students to study at the School during this time. We want to ensure that LSE’s doors are open to all talented students, regardless of financial circumstances, and are delighted to cement this relationship further by offering 50 scholarships, for graduate study, for students from India.”

To apply for one of these awards students should first of all apply for a place on one of the school's graduate programmes. The list of available Master’s programmes can be found on the graduate admissions website. 

Once you have applied for a place at the School you should complete the LSE Graduate  Financial Support application form. A link to this will be sent to you when the application is received by the school. Please follow the instructions provided and complete all sections of the form. This form is used by the Financial Support Office to assess candidates’ eligibility for all awards available at LSE, including the new Indian graduate scholarships. If you have already received an offer of a place for 2013, but have not previously applied for financial support then you can do so at any point until 26 April 2013.

For more information on the scholarships for Indian students please email financial-support@lse.ac.uk

School of Communication set up by Shiv Nadar University and US university

The Shiv Nadar University (SNU) today announced the launch of the School of Communication (SoC) offering undergraduate, graduate and research level programs in communication. The University also announced a new collaboration with the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania (ASC) through which ASC will assist SNU in designing the curriculum for its programs along with assisting SNU in identification and training of faculty. The partnership also established both faculty and student exchange programs. Students and faculty from both institutions will have the option of spending up to two semesters at Pennsylvania campus or at the SNU campus at Greater Noida.

Annenberg School for Communication

Nikhil Sinha, Vice Chancellor, Shiv Nadar University said, ‘The growth of communication and media in India has been exponential and India increasingly requires globally relevant research-led programs in communication. Annenberg is a globally renowned institution and stands at the forefront of education, research, and policy studies on the processes, nature, and consequences of existing and emerging media. We believe that this collaboration would help us leverage ASC’s proven track record of five decades in Communication Education and Research to create a world class communication program at the SNU School of Communication.”

Michael Delli Carpini, Dean, Annenberg School for Communication said, "The Annenberg School for Communication has been committed to responding to changes in both the nature of Communication as a social process and in Communication as a discipline. We see our partnership with the Shiv Nadar University as an opportunity help all aspiring communication professionals become better consumers and producers of public information, strengthen their understanding of the role of communication in their personal, professional and civic lives, and prepare them for private and public-sector leadership positions in communication-related and other fields. We look forward to an exciting partnership.”

Academic programs will commence in August 2013. Students completing the programs successfully will obtain a degree issued by Shiv Nadar University.

S P Jain wins international TeamMBA award

After more than 21,000 votes were cast online in May, two business schools ― SP Jain Institute of Management and Research (India) and the College of William and Mary Mason School of Business (United States)―won TeamMBA awards for their community service and social responsibility programs. The winners were announced today by the Graduate Management Admission Council at its Annual Conference, the largest gathering of graduate business school professionals in the world.

A total of 78 service programs from schools around the world were considered for the TeamMBA award. These programs involved nearly 1,500 students who volunteered almost 50,000 hours and raised US$2.6 million.

“In honoring these two great institutions, we  also recognize the tremendous spirit and passion that business school students around the world have for giving back to their community and to their commitment to improving the lives of others,” said Dave Wilson, president and CEO of GMAC. “These are challenging times for many people all over the world and to see the effort that these students are putting in to making a difference is truly remarkable. Today's MBAs and other graduate business students fiercely embrace their obligation to give back and make the world a better place.”

SP Jain won the All School Award, which recognizes a school for its commitment to promoting and supporting social engagement by its students through school-led programs, services, institutional culture and community outreach. Through more than a dozen individual, team and school-wide projects, students at SP Jain worked to improve the lives of women, milk and agricultural growers, disaster victims and rural villagers.

The College of William and Mary Mason School of Business won the All Service Award, which recognizes outstanding projects in categories such as community service, sustainability/greening and consulting, for engaging in a variety of projects, including a mustache auction to raise money to start a microlending account, two blood drives that collected 100 pints of blood, and raising tens of thousands of dollars for local and global charities.

QS Global 200 Business Schools Report 2012: IIMs feature in Asia Pacific top 10 list

The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) have reason to cheer. The three IIMs at Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Calcutta have been listed among the top 10 in the Asia Pacific region in the recently released QS Global 200 Business Schools Report 2012. IIM-Ahmedabad is ranked second, IIM-Bangalore's rank is fifth and IIM-Calcutta is ranked eighth.

Indian School of Business has been ranked seventh, S P Jain Institute of Management and Research is at 16 and Indian Institute of Foreign Trade at 21.

INSEAD, Singapore is number one in the region for the third consecutive year. Melbourne  Business School (University of Melbourne, Australia), NUS Business School, (National University of Singapore) and University of New South Wales were some of the other institutes that featured among the top 10 in the region.

Throughout the QS Global 200 Business Schools Report, one theme in particular stands out: Indian business schools are fast gaining popularity among MBA employers. In almost all specialisation ratings, Indian schools have climbed considerably when compared to last year. This is even the case for international management, as while Indian business schools feature lower down the rating than they do in other specializations, they are still climbing and showing promise in developing a greater international outlook among their MBA graduates.

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.

India's invisible innovation challenge

True or false: When it comes to innovation, the developed world has a distinct advantage over emerging markets? If you believe this, you’ll be surprised to read new research from London Business School professors Nirmalya Kumar and Phanish Puranam that turns this long-held assumption on its head.

In their new book INDIA INSIDE: The Emerging Innovation Challenge to the West, Nirmalya Kumar and Phanish Puranam, who are also co-directors of the School’s Aditya Birla Centre, make clear that for certain kinds of innovation, the long-held monopoly held by the developed world is over. As a result, the authors argue, it’s now time for Western countries to follow the East’s lead—and in particular, India’s lead—in adopting different processes and developing new responses to increasing shifts in the world market.

But one thing is for sure: India’s invisible-innovation challenge will need a response from Western multinationals and policy makers alike. In India Inside, Professors Kumar and Puranam deliver a much needed wake-up call to thinkers and companies in the developed world.

According to the authors, substantial innovation is taking place in India, but in a form that is invisible to consumers around the world. This innovation takes a rich variety of forms—from novel B2B offerings and R&D services outsourcing to process improvement discoveries and fresh approaches to management.

The authors argue that despite some challenges, India has emerged as the global ‘invisible’ innovation hub. Four new concepts help demonstrate this:

• Global segmented R&D delivery model: How innovative and creative tasks are increasingly being off-shored to India
• Injection of intelligence: How over-qualified people on what were considered dead end jobs produces product innovations in India
• Sinking skill ladder: How by outsourcing the bottom end of the value chain to India, the West will be forced to offshore more strategic and creative activities in the future
• Browning of the TMT: How multinational corporations must transform composition of their global leadership teams as R&D and markets move to India and China

Kumar and Puranam believe that India’s emergence as a global innovation hub has important implications for the developed world. For Western multinationals it means internal stress around talent and the makeup of top executive teams. For Western policy-makers it means the potential loss of dominance in creative, innovative, and high-value-added work. The book provides several potential responses and recommendations for adapting to this new norm.

Through research and extensive interviews with India-based executives from companies like AstraZeneca, GE, Infosys, Intel, and Wipro, INDIA INSIDE presents a clear-eyed view of the challenges and opportunities facing multinationals seeking new sources of innovation in the future.

India outpost for Canadian varsity

The University of British Columbia joins the long list of international institutions with offices in India. The Canadian university will set up offices in Bangalore and New Delhi and establish partnerships with leading universities and research institutions across India.

The new Bangalore office will be spearheaded by UBC’s Sauder School of Business. This initiative will be announced in Bangalore on November 15 at an event hosted by the Premier of British Columbia Christy Clark.

In addition, the Sauder School of Business will announce Memorandum of Understanding agreements to be signed with two of India’s most prominent educational institutions, the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore and the Indian Institute of Technology Madras. These partnerships will provide a framework to increase student exchange, research partnerships and collaborative program development.

“These initiatives represent a landmark achievement in UBC’s ongoing quest to create an international centre of excellence for study, research and partnership,” says UBC President Stephen Toope.

The announcement of the new Bangalore office is part of a B.C. Government trade mission to India led by Premier Clark.

“International education is an important part of B.C.’s Jobs Plan,” says Premier Christy Clark. “The opening of the UBC India Office will showcase educational opportunities available in B.C. as well as support future partnerships and academic exchanges.”

President Toope, Vice President Research and International John Hepburn and Sauder School of Business Dean Daniel Muzyka are among executives from 16 B.C. post-secondary institutions participating in the mission.

“Our new office in Bangalore puts UBC and Sauder on the ground in a country that will influence global economic growth for the next century,” says Dean Muzyka. “Through enhanced research, programs and engagement, the school will endeavor to serve the needs of India as it grows, while learning from rapid changes taking place in its economy.”

The UBC India Office in Bangalore will be a gateway allowing UBC and Sauder School of Business to engage directly with key academic, government and business stakeholders. With the goal of enhancing educational programs, exchanges, and research collaboration, the office will work to deepen connections with the Indian business community to enhance career support and job opportunities for students and alumni.