ISB to increase student intake

The Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, is set to increase its student intake by one-third. To keep with this expansion, it is also going to increase its faculty strength.

While the number of students will increase from 420 to 560, the number of faculty members will rise steadily from 24 to 45.

This expansion is expected to take place over the next three to five years. This expansion entails expanding its infrastructure, including hostels and other facilities.

The ISB has been increasing its intake from 126 in the first batch in 2001 to 425 in 2007-08, 490 in 2008-09 and to 560 in 2009-10. For the addition of students from 420 to 560, the school will have to spend Rs 15-20 crore.

The business school, which has academic partnerships with the Kellogg School of Management and Wharton School, has two centres of excellence. It is planning to set up two more centres of excellence. It is looking to set up a centre for excellence in Leadership and Change Management, and another one for Strategic Marketing.

To set up each of the Centre For Excellence it would cost Rs 30-50 lakh. "Looking ahead, we would require upto Rs 1.5 crore," said M Rammohan Rao, Dean, ISB. The benefits of setting up the centres of excellence include branding and exchange education programme.

The school is considering introducing new courses keeping with the developments in the economy. The ISB has introduced courses in real estate, healthcare management and entrepreneurship among others.

It has made entrepreneurship a compulsory subject. The Wadhwani Centre for Entrepreneurship Development aims at fostering and supporting the entrepreneurial spirit.

ISB has a joint research going with the Base of Pyramid Learning Lab of Centre for Sustainable Development of Cornell University. The lab is a consortium of companies, NGOs, multilateral organisations, entrepreneurs and academics working together to create growth opportunities in underdeveloped markets.

The business school plans to start pre-doctoral programme from the next year for those wanting to take up research. This will be a foundation programme for future researchers. The school also aims to groom future faculty for management training.

About 90 per cent of ISB students depend on loans and/or scholarships. It has proposed to increase the scholarships by 55 per cent in 2009 to Rs 3.30crore over and above that given in 2008.