This story is from October 4, 2007

SP Jain plans global expansion

Neelima Mahajan / TNN / Oct 4, 2007, 01:57 IST

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After successfully setting up two international campuses, Mumbai's SP Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR) has set its sights on the West.

MUMBAI: After successfully setting up two international campuses, Mumbai's SP Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR) has set its sights on the West.
"We are looking at the possibility of doing something in the US or Europe," says M L Shrikant, honorary dean, SPJIMR. ''The situation in the West is very different from Singapore and Dubai. We are looking at the options we have and trying to see what we can do there.''
In 2004, SPJIMR set up its campus in Dubai's Knowledge Village and became the first Indian business school to have a location in another country.
Later in 2006, it set up a second campus in Singapore, again beating IIM-Bangalore to become the first Indian B-school to have a presence in the city-state. SPJIMR offers its two-country Global MBA programme in both these campuses.

But clearly, Shrikant thinks that isn't enough. ''In 10-15 years Indian higher education will become a force to reckon with. And going global will help improve quality of education in the country,'' he says.
The idea is to either go as a standalone or share some resources with a local university and then offer its programmes from that base. ''We might go ahead with a quasi-partnership or invest there,'' says Shrikant.

The school is already in talks with institutions in Europe and the US for possible partnerships. In the US it is looking at Washington University of St Louis and Virginia Tech, with which it already offers a Masters in IT dual degree programme.
In Europe it is talking to Kingston University (UK), University of Ulster (Ireland) and Reutlingen University (Germany).
While it is yet to decide which programmes it is likely to offer in the third campus, Sunil Rai, joint director, SPJIMR feels that programmes like the Family Managed Business (FMB) and the executive MBA are two possibilities. ''A programme like the FMB will be unique for that audience,'' says Rai.

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