The Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore was ranked first among B-schools in Central Asia by Eduniversal, French consulting firm that is known for its ratings in the field of higher education.
IIM-B has been ranked above its sister schools in Ahmedabad and Kolkata, which have been ranked second and third respectively. No other Indian B-school has made it to the list. The zone-wise ranking identifies top three B-schools in nine geographic locations around the world.
This ranking was announced on the first day of the four-day 6th Eduniversal World Convention that commenced here on Wednesday. The convention, which brings together deans, business educators and professionals from the field of education, is being hosted by the IIM-B.
Reacting to the late evening announcement, Devanath Tirupati, Director In-charge and Dean (Academic) at IIM-B, said that the award would help the institute reach a global audience. He said that IIM-B was increasing its focus on internationalisation and research. “The Eduniversal awards are more broad-based, in the sense the awards are based on interviews with deans and directors from universities and B-schools from around the world. The awards recognise different perspectives,” he said.
Meanwhile, the four-day convention was inaugurated on Wednesday morning with delegates from nearly 50 countries around the world.
It was inaugurated by Natarajan Krishna Kumar, CEO of MindTree India, who spoke on ‘Economic influence on education in India and social challenges’. A release from the IIM-B quoted him saying, “Indians have a fundamental philosophy that education is very important and we have a propensity to invest in education, so we present a market of great opportunity. However, when foreign universities come to us, they must realise that they cannot juxtapose the European or American model here. They need to build a local product and a local curriculum at an effective cost for India. And they must partner with institutes of global repute here in India.”
Martial Guiette, Founder-CEO of Eduniversal, said the convention aims at fostering sustainability, entrepreneurship and innovation among the higher education institutions of the world.
Upcoming sessions at the conference will include plenary sessions and workshops on Asian higher education, rethinking internationalisation strategies and maintain balance between independence and inter-dependence, and entrepreneurship and education.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Bangalore / by Staff Reporter / Bangalore – October 10th, 2013