ISB may rope in MIT, Kennedy School for Mohali campus

The institute’s plan to start its first academic session on the Mohali campus in 2012 may be delayed since it had to scout for alternative land due to a dispute.

The premier Indian School of Business (ISB) may soon tie up with US-based Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard’s John F Kennedy School of Government to conduct joint programmes at its second campus at Knowledge City in Mohali, Punjab.

Wharton School and Kellogg School of Management, ISB’s associate schools at its Hyderabad campus, would continue to be its partners for Mohali campus programmes too.

“We are exploring association with some schools in the US for our new programmes in public policy, healthcare management, manufacturing and operation excellence and physical infrastructure management. We need their association in designing the programmes and recruitment of faculty members,” said Savita Mahajan, chief executive officer for ISB, Mohali.

The institute, which expected to start its first academic session on the Mohali campus in 2012, however, says the new campus could be delayed.

“The land we were alloted from the state government of Punjab was disputed. We went back to the government and told them that we need an alternative site. This has taken some time and has set back the schedule by four months. If we get all the official clearances in place and begin the construction work by April, we hope to meet the deadline of 2012,” added Mahajan.

A year ago, the state government had allotted 70 acres to the institute at Rs 1 crore on a 99-year lease. Moreover, the institute invested Rs 200 crore — Rs 50 crore each from its founder supporters — Analjit Singh, Chairman and Managing Director of Max India Limited; Rakesh Bharti Mittal, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of Bharti Enterprises Limited; Sunil Kant Munjal, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Hero Corporate Service Limited and Atul Punj, Chairman, Punj Lloyd Group.

The founder supporters of the Mohali campus are members of the ISB Executive Board and will also be represented on the campus advisory board of ISB, Mohali. They will chair the respective Institute Advisory Councils, along with extending their support for placements/internships, programmes on campus and visiting faculty to the ISB Mohali campus.

The Mohali campus will have the four specialist institutes, termed as Centres of Excellence — Max India Institute of Healthcare Management; Bharti Institute of Public Policy; BML Munjal Institute of Manufacturing and Operation Excellence and Punj Lloyd Institute of Physical Infrastructure Management.

To begin, the institute will offer between 140-200 seats at the Mohali campus, which will be scaled up later. ISB has 560 students at its Hyderabad campus. The director for the institute will be selected from ISB's existing faculty at Hyderabad. ISB has begun looking for faculty for the Mohali campus.

“We go to the US to hire faculty for the institute. With Mohali coming on stream, we will increase the intake. We will also have to recruit for the four specialist institutes, as these areas are new for ISB,” added Mahajan.