Corporate relations would be our primary focus: Sunil Kumar

Q&A with Dean, Chicago Booth School of Business

The University of Chicago's Booth School of Business which has increased its footprint in India through setting up a physical centre and strengthening their alumni organisation among others is looking to improve its partnerships and relations with corporates in India.

In an interview with M Saraswathy, Sunil Kumar, Dean, Chicago Booth School of Business talks about their journey and the way forward. Excerpts:

You took over as the Dean about four years ago. What are the steps that have been taken to expand the School's India footprint?

Our footprint in India has increased by establishing the India centre in New Delhi. This centre has not just been instrumental in supporting research projects but also plays a role in organising conferences on contemporary issues. Further, Chicago Booth Alumni club of India with several members in the country also helps us to get a better pool of applicants from India.

We also have a portfolio of connections with the corporate human resource departments to help them with their training needs. We also do this on an ad-hoc basis with them depending on the type of training that they require.

There are some international business schools that have a permanent presence in India for offering some management programmes at regular intervals in a year. Do you have similar plans?

We already have presence in Asia through our Hong Kong and Singapore campuses. It is our strategy to not partner for executive MBA programme. We would rather have a few centres and do it well than having many centres. However, as and when the need arises in Indian companies for a short-term management programme for their executives, we do offer it at a location convenient to them in India.

Even smaller businesses are now interested in longer and shorter duration courses for their executives. Have you seen this trend at Booth School too?

About 13-15 per cent of our full time MBA students are Asians, of which 5 per cent are Indians. We have been able to offer customised programmes even for three to five day duration for particular companies. We are also in talks with several companies in India to offer programmes in emerging technologies, finance for non-finance professionals and help them to identify, nurture homegrown talent and train them.

We also have a good-track record in entrepreneurship and have 5-6 companies sprouting up from the batch of students. Their companies have been created even before they graduate out of the programme.

Are there additional scholarships for students on the anvil?

Last year, we added three more scholarships for students from India itself. We are also in the process of raising some funds. Under the capital campaign, the largest bucket will be for scholarships for prospective students.

What would be the strategy to deepen the Chicago Booth brand in India?

India is an important market for us, since it is a mature market. Corporate relations would be our primary focus area. This would involve many layers of interactions, be it the Executive MBA at our existing campuses or customised programmes for these executives.

Further, both our India centre and alumni network in the country would enable us in further deepening the Chicago Booth brand in India and also have off-campus recruitment for incoming students.