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Seamless learning
March 2005
R. CHANDRAKANTH
THE INDIAN Government is toying with the idea of opening up the
education sector for foreign participation — be it setting
up institutes, having tie-ups with Indian educational institutions,
twinning programmes, exchange programmes etc. — and efforts
are on at different levels to bring about synergies with international
education. One such effort is between India and France.
Thirty-two master's students of Groupe Ecole Superieure de Commerce,
Pau, France (ESC, Pau) are on an exchange programme at the Ohio-Manipal
School of Business (OMSB) in Bangalore, in their effort to become
international managers. Globalisation of business has given birth
to globalisation of education. The most effective way to teach
global competence to students is to place them in a foreign environment,
which allows them to build effective interpersonal relationships
with people from a different culture.
The programme underway from January to June this year is already
considered a success and has enthused ESC, Pau to look at more
such tie-ups. Francine Maubourguet, Professor-Head of International
Programme, ESC, Pau, says the programme gives the students an
international perspective which helps them locate themselves career-wise
in any part of the world later on.
As for the Indian students at the OMSB, it has been a learning
experience. S.R. Sridharamurthy, Assistant Director (Marketing),
OMSB, says the students are much more motivated to excel in an
international business learning environment and they are getting
a broader perspective of business issues. An analysis of the previous
placement indicates that 25 per cent of the students were taken
by foreign companies for placement abroad, 17 per cent were absorbed
by MNCs in India, 33 per cent were recruited by Indian corporates
and 25 per cent joined their family businesses.
The cooperation is intended to enable students to become better,
more successful participants in the global business place. It
is aimed at both those who want to attain more information about
what is going on in international markets in order to be more
well-rounded and better educated and for those who want to translate
their knowledge into successful business transaction.
It is a four-way cooperation between the Ohio University College
of Business, OMSB, ESC Pau and the Alliance Francaise de Bangalore.
The mission is simple: providing a six-month cross-cultural experience
to students from ESC, Pau. This actually is an extension of the
programme where 18 students from ESC, Ohio and OMSB were together
in France on consulting projects last year.
During the first three months, French students take a couple of
courses at OMSB along with Indian students. The first course,
Domestic Business Environment, says Prof. Sridharamurthy, is intended
to provide students with in-depth knowledge of the Indian business
environment (demographic, social, political, cultural, regulatory
and economic).
The second course, Operations Management, provides students with
the knowledge of operations and production process in the Indian
and French contexts.
The students also take up consultancy projects (Applied Research
Projects) which focus on developing market plans, financial analyses,
operations evaluations, business plans or management strategy.
ARP offers two major benefits to the business students: opportunity
to integrate their learning through authentic international business
consultation experiences in a foreign country and opportunity
to team with foreign business students in way that replicates
the multicultural teams used in business today.
Consultancy projects
Student groups already are on consulting projects in
companies such as Accenture, Base Terminal, Food World, Covansys,
Tanishq, Pepsi and Bangalore Central. One aspect the French students
have noticed in Indian companies is that they do not give importance
to packaging. Says Prof. Francine: "In France, the value
of packaging is as much as the product itself, whereas in India
it is not given priority." Adds Prof. Sridharamurthy: "Here,
a newspaper is good enough to wrap a product".
Second quarter
International internships are part of the programme
and they provide an opportunity to these students to apply their
classroom learning in the real business world and find out what
it is like to work in an Indian company setting.
Companies that have agreed to sponsor internships include Coke,
Pepsi, SSC & B Lintas, Shahi Exports, Manipal Apparels, Food
World, Covansys, Café Coffee Day, Pizza Hut and Manipal
Group.
The OMSB is a collaborative endeavour between the Ohio University
College of Business and the Manipal Group to develop the human
capital in India.
It offers a full-time MBA programme and the degree is awarded
by Ohio University without the high investment needed for a business
education in the U.S.
Ranked 15th among French B-schools, ESC Pau is a member of the
Conference des Grandes Ecoles. The Grande Ecole system is an exclusive,
highly focussed, university-level education process which provides
students with an American equivalent of at least one year of graduate
work in the field of business.
Students applying to a Grande Ecole must have at least two years
of undergraduate work completed in addition to the national competitive
examinations. The best students attend private, university-level
preparatory classes for two years before beginning the admission
process to a Grande Ecole.
The fourth partner in this cooperation is the Alliance Francaise
de Bangalore, a cultural wing of the Embassy of France in India.
According to Vidya Suresh, who heads EduFrance in Bangalore, "AFB
acts as a facilitator".
AFB not only trains French students about Indian culture and philosophy,
but also organises many events to make French students feel at
home.
School
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