USC in talks with varsities to offer course on supply chain

The course offers a globally-integrated master's programme on supply chain management aligned to its mission of networking, education and advanced research

University of Southern California (USC) is in talks with various Indian universities to offer its Global Supply Chain Management (GSCM) certification course, said its director-centre for GSCM, Nick Vyas.

At present, USC is offering GSCM course to the second batch of 78 students from 18 different countries. The course offers a globally-integrated master’s programme on SCM aligned to its mission of NEAR (networking, education and advanced research).

“There is a global shortage of qualified professional in the SCM sector, with the US alone needing over one million qualified professional by 2016,” he told mediapersons here on Wednesday.

USC, jointly with Infosys, on Wednesday organised a one-day round-table event focusing on ‘Evolving technology and global supply chain innovation’ at the latter’s campus in Hyderabad, with an objective to drive initiatives to bridge the talent gap in SCM globally.

USC has formed a board for the purpose, and currently has 27 companies as its members from various countries, with Infosys being the founding member and the only one from India so far.

Stating that 60 per cent of SCM companies in the US had open positions and 15 per cent of the planning positions were open for an average time of five months, Vyas, quoting a Gartner report, said supply chain undergraduate placement rates were in the range of 85 per cent to 100 per cent and, in many cases, graduates were accepting higher salaries than finance and accounting majors.

The global SCM industry is currently pegged at $10 trillion, which accounts for nearly 14 per cent of the gross world product, said Ravi Kumar S, executive vice-president and global head (insurance, cards and payments) and head of Infosys’ Hyderabad development centre.

“SCM is a broad horizontal space, and is all-pervasive now. It cuts across every industry that we are working with. Our aim, through this collaboration with USC, is to capitalise on the advent of technologies like 3D printing and machine learning, which are disrupting SCM, for the future,” Kumar said.