Auto part maker JBM Group eyes Australian education sector

Auto component maker JBM Group today said it is planning to enter education sector in Australia and is in talks with some service providers, including Pentaq Technology.

The Rs 3,300-crore group is undertaking this move as part of its plan to expand its wholly-owned education venture, JBM Cadmium, outside India.

"We are talking to some education service providers in Australia but nothing has been decided yet", JBM Group Executive Director Nishant Arya told PTI.

Arya said the group was planning to start digital manufacturing courses there and bring some specialised courses (from Australia) into India. The company said it was talking to Pentaq Technology, one of the education service providers in Australia to introduce some courses in India.

"They (Pentaq) have a specialised course on liquid alumina and we want to introduce this into India. In the same way, we are planning to take our designing courses, which are in great demand across the world, to Australia," Arya said.

When asked about the company's timing to enter Australian markets at a time when incidents of attacks on Indian students were still fresh in public memory, Arya said: "We cannot avoid the market. If any market is giving opportunities, we will go there."

Meanwhile JBM Cadmium that provides courses automotive, engineering and aerospace designing, has tied up with Dehradun based University of Petroleum & Energy Studies(UPES). The UPES Vice Chancellor Parag Diwan said the courses will be offered at both graduation and post-graduation levels from this academic season.

UPES and JBM will initially offer 3-4 courses through the newly set up 'Centre of Excellence in Design Engineering' and within three years it will be increased to 12 courses with a

Range of options on designing such as automotive, oil and gas, engineering and aerospace. While JBM will provide the software and a few trainers, all infrastructure will be given by UPES in its Dehradun campus.

"We will offer different modules with duration range of 30-200 hrs. The cost of the course will also vary accordingly between Rs 30,000 and Rs 1 lakh," Diwan said.

JBM currently offers technical education programmes in association with two other institutes -- Manav Rachna and Institute for Technology and Management. It is also in talks with Amity University to start the courses to train automotive designers and engineers. The group had tied up with Tata Technologies, Dassault Systemes and MSC Softwares for the structuring of the courses.

JBM Group is aiming to garner Rs 1,000 crore from this new venture by 2015 and plans to expand to at least 100 institutes across the country over the next five years.