'We are in talks with four global universities for collaborations'

Q&A: P Maria Joseph Christie, LIBA, Director

The Loyola Institute of Business Administration (LIBA), a premiere Jesuit Institution with worldwide collaborations, is planning to revise its curriculum from next year to keep abreast with the latest in management practises. In an interview with Pradipta Mukherjee, the institute’s director P Maria Joseph Christie S J says the institute is exploring collaborations with international institutes. Edited excerpts:

Have placements been good for you this year?
Our final placement season this year was much better than last year, thanks to the economic recovery. We have had many new companies turn up for placements, including Novartis, Religare, Caterpillar, Virgin Mobile, among others. The highest salary has remained at Rs 10 lakh like last year, but the average salary has touched Rs 8 lakh this year, up from Rs 6 lakh last year. We had around 104 students last year up for placements and this year we had 112 students.

What are the institute’s focus areas this year?
One of our focus areas in 2010 would be on revising our curriculum. So, we will have new modules on management strategy for emerging markets. We will also start modules on social media, new-age marketing, and financial modelling. We will revise our existing curriculum too to make it more relevant to the present-day management requirements. We are starting a new Centre of Excellence from next year on Financial Inclusion where we would impart education from banking services to micro insurance. We are also looking at strengthening our executive diploma programmes. Our existing Centres of Excellence include Business Ethics and Corporate Governance, Retail Management, Supply Chain Management, Entrepreneurial Development, and Centre for Behavioural Science. All these centres will this year have renewed focus on research.

What about foreign collaborations?
We have collaborations with around 16 international universities. We are in talks with four global universities for collaborations. These include universities in Malaya, Peru, Colorado and Spain.

We want to have at least one collaboration or tie-up in each continent for a global exposure.

Do you believe that foreign universities setting up campuses in India is good for the country?
If international universities set up campuses in India, the quality of education may improve. Students would benefit from the resulting competitive edge. However, there are some concerns too. Would the degree offered in India by foreign university be considered equivalent to the degree it provides in America? Also, there are opinions that most outreach programmes have not been as good or successful as on the home turf.

So several great institutions are dithering to make moves in foreign soil. Further, hopefully the other tier II institutions that want to make it to India should not do so for business reasons alone. Personally, I believe education is a noble service. So let’s wait and see....