More Indians opting for special courses at MIT

The number of Indians opting for specialised management courses at the MIT Sloan School of Management has increased over the last year, according to Margaret Andrews, MBA director at Sloan.

From 19 students in 2003, the number of students opting for specialised MBA programmes at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) increased to 45 this year.

Andrews, who was in the country to speak to potential applicants, admitted that most applicants have an engineering background, but concedes that as far as the innovation is concerned, the performance of Indians has been par excellence.

All degree candidates enrolled in the MBA programme complete a required core curriculum, in addition to 144 units of electives. Students may take up to two non-MIT Sloan graduate level MIT or Harvard subjects approved by the MIT Sloan School while enrolled in the programme for completion of degree requirements (there is no credit limit to these two subjects).

Most MIT Sloan School subjects range from 3 to 12 units based on an approximation of weekly class hours, laboratory or thesis units, and outside preparation time.

During the second year, students have the option of writing a thesis.

Over 75 per cent of the credits in the curriculum are chosen by the students themselves. "We look for students who are comfortable with ambiguity!" said Andrews.

On completion of degree requirements, candidates receive either a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree or Master of Science in Management (SM). Only students who complete a thesis may elect to receive the Master of Science in Management. The thesis is optional for MBA degree candidates.

MIT boasts of a 2-year programme exclusively for manufacturing, 'Leaders for Manufacturing', meant exclusively for engineers. The Leaders for Manufacturing Programme is a two-year, dual-degree programme in which students receive an MBA or SM in Management and an SM in one of seven engineering departments. The programme is a partnership between MIT and major US manufacturing companies.

There are over 100 biotech firms that have sprung up around MIT. The institute has taken note of this shift to the bio-economy and has structured a specialised programme for biomedical MBAs, for doctors who are cashing in on small start-ups in life sciences.

Andrews hastens to clarify that MIT is only perceived as a technology-driven management institute, but over the years it has been supporting soft infrastructure in the social sector.