IIM-A,Duke CE in JV for custom edu in India, M-E

In a move that saw India being preffered over China owing to a better management structure, US-based Duke Corporate Education (Duke CE) has entered into a collaboration with the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A). The collaboration would enable delivery of customized corporate education programmes in India and the Middle-East.

The programme, which would be one of its kind in Asia, is all set to take off by August-end. Duke CE's global resource network would rope in the best faculties from both the institutes to impart management training to CEOs and other higher and middle level executives from multinational companies, Bakul Dholakia, director of IIM-A, said.

An Indian MNC has already signed up for the programme and will reportedly enroll around 1300 of its executives in various management levels starting from September.

"Training of higher level executives is at a nascent stage in the country and with 5000 new CEOs required in the next 5 years, the programme is a critical link to achieve 10% growth rate", Dholakia said.

Starting with large multinational companies and covering public sector units eventually, the programmes, ranging from three days to several months would be formulated based on the client's needs.

IIM-A expects to train around 70,000 executives at various managerial levels every year with the commencement of the programme which is at present available in 43 countries. The agreement is being seen by IIM-A as an opportunity for the faculty to interact with their counterparts from other countries and create a confluence of new ideas.