Infrastructure major GMR Group and Schulich School of Business of York University in Toronto, Canada, have entered into an understanding to develop a Schulich campus in Hyderabad.
Under the agreement, Schulich will develop the learning environment and academic infrastructure while GMR will provide the land and physical campus. The campus will represent a substantial, long-term capital investment in “bricks and mortar” to provide a state-of-the-art setting for students, faculty, staff and executives, GMR stated in a press release here on Thursday.
Schulich, which is a public, non-profit institution, will initially offer its two-year MBA programme to 120 students at the Hyderabad campus, along with executive education programmes. Subject to approval under the Foreign Educational Institutions Bill currently before the Indian Parliament and final approvals by the Boards of York University and the GMR Group, admissions would commence no later than 2013, the release said.
“GMR will bring its world-class infrastructure development skills to the table, while the Schulich School of Business will bring its expertise as one of the world's top-rated MBA programmes and executive education providers,” said V Raghunathan, chief executive officer of GMR Varalakshmi Foundation, the group's corporate social responsibility arm.
“The GMR campus of the Schulich School of Business will be a mirror image of Schulich's Toronto campus, with first-rate facilities, international faculty, and an internationally-focused curriculum,” Schulich Dean Dr Dezsö J. Horváth, stated. “We will attract the best and the brightest students from India and abroad and prepare them for global careers in India and elsewhere in the world,” he added
The GMR Group has interests in airports, energy, highways and urban infrastructure. It operates Hyderabad and Delhi international airports.