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Call it the effects of a flatter world as envisaged by Thomas Friedman, Indians are being sought after in almost all spheres. Education Sector, especially the management education, is the latest to join the bandwagon.

Going by recent events, there are interesting trends, which are materializing. On one hand, there are an increasing number of B-schools vying to set-up shop abroad. S. P. Jain Institute of Management and Research is one such institute with its campuses in Dubai and Singapore. Then there are the IIMs who, till recently, were in the news for seeking permission to go foreign. IIMB's proposed campus in Singapore is likely to be launched next October. The number is bound to increase as more and more institutes join the fray.

The intent behind these moves is to capitalize upon the institutes' strength in the domestic markets and replicate the same abroad. Such initiatives also make sense given the vast emigrant populace of Indian origin in majority of the countries globally. The familiarity of the school's brand in the domestic market is a major factor in drawing a large number of professionals of Indian origin who attend the schools either full-time or part-time.

The schools usually meet the demand for the faculty by fishing into the faculty pool back home or by hiring local talent in the form of industry contacts or visiting faculties. The faculty members in these colleges are the best of the breed, having served in governments, the World Bank and other institutions of high repute.

On the other front, however, are the global biggies, foreign universities, who are now finding that India's growing talent pool cannot be ignored. The huge corporate action that is taking place in the country provides them with opportunities to study and propound successful business models, which had hitherto been lacking the focus of academicians.

The emergence of India in the global corporate arena, growing number of multinational corporations from the country, and an exposed talent pool, form an enlightening combination to develop interesting case studies.

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* Contributed by -
Manish Purang (Campus Associate),
Student of One-year PGDM Course,
SPJIMR, Mumbai.