Coles College launches partnership with b-school in India
Collaboration with Mumbai Business School marks Coles College’s entrance into India…
Georgia
(Apr 7, 2010) —
Collaboration with Mumbai Business School marks Coles College’s entrance into India’s
booming economy
Kennesaw, Ga. (April 7, 2010) – The Coles College of Business has entered into a partnership with one of India’s
up-and-coming business schools, launching one of the country’s first executive M.B.A.
programs offered in collaboration with an American university.
Under the agreement, the Coles College of Business will help Mumbai Business School
launch its first executive M.B.A. program and teach the curriculum. Graduates of Mumbai
Business School’s Post-Graduate Program for Working Executives (PGPX) will receive
certificates from the Coles College of Business.
“We are very excited about our new educational partnership in Mumbai, India’s financial
center,” said W. Ken Harmon, dean of the Coles College of Business, who traveled to
India in March to seal the deal. “Our collaboration with Mumbai Business School will
extend the Coles College’s brand into the heart of one of the most dynamic economies
in the world. We are looking forward to a productive partnership that will yield benefits
for both schools.”
The revenue-sharing agreement will provide Coles College faculty the opportunity to
teach at Mumbai Business School, whose faculty includes Indian business leaders as
well as professors from renowned U.S. business schools such as Northwestern’s Kellogg
School of Management and Emory’s Goizueta Business School. The partnership will also
provide funding for research, travel and development opportunities for Coles College
faculty, and will open the door for the college to help train U.S. executives whose
companies want to do business in India.
This collaboration marks the Coles College of Business’ entrance into one of the world’s
largest and fastest-growing economies. India, which has a large English-speaking population,
is quickly becoming one of the most important business economies in the globe, thus
creating demand for the education of managers and executives leading India’s businesses.
India’s economy is projected to grow 8.5 percent this year, and U.S. Treasury Secretary
Timothy Geithner traveled to India in early April to work on improving
bilateral economic and financial relations.
Harmon and other Coles College administrators visited several business schools in
Mumbai, Delhi, Mysore and Bangalore in fall 2009 and they decided Mumbai Business
School, which started operations in 2008, was the right partner “because of its entrepreneurial
spirit and flexible approaches to education,” Harmon said.
“Most of the business schools we visited in India were very young, which reflects
the dynamic nature of the burgeoning economy,” he explained. “While there are a number
of long-standing business schools, we liked the fresh approach Mumbai Business School
takes to business education.”
A leader in innovative teaching and learning, Kennesaw State University offers more than 150 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees to its more than 41,000 students. With 11 colleges on two metro Atlanta campuses, Kennesaw State is a member of the University System of Georgia and the second-largest university in the state. The university’s vibrant campus culture, diverse population, strong global ties and entrepreneurial spirit draw students from throughout the region and from 126 countries across the globe. Kennesaw State is a Carnegie-designated doctoral research institution (R2), placing it among an elite group of only 6 percent of U.S. colleges and universities with an R1 or R2 status. For more information, visit kennesaw.edu.