ISB to start doctoral programme

Hyderabad-based Indian School of Business (ISB) will launch a Fellow Programme in Management (FPM), equivalent to PhD, for young researchers this September.

The programme will be for a duration of four to five years where all students will be offered full tuition scholarships and also be provided with a stipend of about Rs 6-7 lakh per annum.

“The programme is fully funded and students stand to benefit from the research strengths of the ISB faculty. This will lead students to qualify for faculty positions in top business schools around the world,” said professor Sanjay Kallapur, Senior Associate Dean, ISB.

Industry experts say with a shortage of 15,000 faculty members with a PhD in management, ISB's move is significant. In engineering institutions, including private colleges, this shortage would be around 30,000.

ISB says it will incur huge cost on this programme but its a long term investment. “Students will be trained to look at issues pertaining to this part of the world. The programme will incorporate knowledge and best practices from INSEAD, a global B-school. A strong PhD is a way to attract senior faculty members to ISB,” said Ajit Rangnekar, ISB Dean. ISB, through its international linkages, will also place these students. Application deadline for the course is March 2011. The class size will be around 15 students.

ISB will offer the FPM in seven business disciplines: accounting, financial economics, information systems, marketing, operations management, organisational behaviour, and strategy.

In the first year, students will be required to complete course work across the basic disciplines of management. The academic year is divided into five terms, each of two months in duration. During the first year, ISB’s FPM students will spend their time on ISB campus, and join INSEAD’s PhD students, from the Singapore and Fontainebleau campuses, via video conferencing for lectures. Entry tests GMAT and GRE will be used to assess general ability.