Date:20/06/2006 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/06/20/stories/2006062003191900.htm

Back IIM-A signs pact with Duke CE

Virendra Pandit

To develop customised corporate training programmes

New curriculum
At the new IIM-A facility, efforts would be made to tailor varying programmes and would cost anywhere between $100 an hour to $6,000 for a course.
IIM-A has also tied up with Duke University's Fuqua School of Business to design open enrolment programmes for executive education for the global market.

Ahmedabad , June 19

In a significant move, the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A) and Duke Corporate Education (Duke CE), US, on Monday formalised their collaboration to develop and deliver customised corporate executive education and training programmes in India and West Asia.

Announcing this at a news conference here, the IIM-A Director, Mr Bakul Dholakia, said the initiative, housed on the new campus of IIM-A, would leverage the resources and capabilities of each institution to extend Duke CE's business model in India and West Asia. It is the first initiative of its kind in India by any institute and the first Duke CE's collaboration anywhere in Asia and the Pacific Region.

"This is a matter of the best joining the best," according to Duke CE's CEO, Mr Blair Sheppard, who signed the MoU with Dr Dholakia.

Duke CE's strength

Duke CE's annual rate of growth is 40 per cent and its existing programmes are delivered in 43 countries. Last year, it trained some 75,000 executives. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Duke University and has a successful partnership with the London School of Economics through which it has delivered programmes in Europe. It also has a significant and increasing presence in Latin America, Asia and Africa as well. At the new IIM-A facility, efforts would be made to tailor varying programmes and would cost anywhere between $100 an hour to $6,000 for a course. The programmes would be of different durations, from 15 days to several months.

Executive education

IIM-A has also tied up with Duke University's Fuqua School of Business to design open enrolment programmes for executive education for the global market.

Dr Shailendra Mehta, Managing Director and CEO, Duke CE India, who heads the initiative, said high-level managerial talent was in short supply in India whose corporate sector would need some 5,000 new CEOs in the next five years, and many times that number in other top-level positions.

In India, executive education-cum-training is a much-neglected field in corporate sector. Against the global norm of seven days of training a year for top managers, the top companies in India train for only about seven hours. The new initiative would fill in this gap. Asked why Duke CE preferred India to China in this initiative, Dr Mehta said India now has more MNCs compared to China; moreover, Indian management education is more advanced.

Unlike open enrolment programmes where transmission of knowledge is the main focus, customised executive education programmes of the sort Duke CE designs focus on knowledge transmission and changing behavioural patterns. These programmes are tailored to meet the specific needs of companies and the target managers.