Park Group starts B - School !
THE PARK Group of Educational Institutions, which manages a bouquet of schools and professional colleges, has launched a business school called the Park Global School of Business Excellence (PGSBE). The institute has been launched simultaneously in Chennai and Coimbatore. An MoU with the University of Missouri-St Louis (UMSL), US, will render a global touch to the new B-school, through student exchange and faculty exchange programs. PGSBE also signals the Coimbatore-based Park group’s foray to Chennai.
Park Group of Educational Institutions chairman PV Ravi said that though the colleges already had management programmes, an autonomous B-school would bring in more flexibility to the curriculum. “The idea behind setting up a separate management institute is the flexibility it offers to coach students in the emerging fields of business. Problems of international business with reference to the Indian context will be dealt with,” Mr Ravi said. The institute, which will commence classes in August, proposes to have an intake of 60 each in its Chennai and Coimbatore centres. The course offered is a two-year Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management (PGDBM), with specialisations in HR, marketing, information systems, finance and supply chain management. It is also planning to introduce electives like derivatives and risk management.
The pact with UMSL will function like a twinning programme where the students have an option of pursuing their second year of study at UMSL, after their first year at the Park Group’s business school. “Twelve students from PGSBE will be selected for the exchange programme at UMSL in their second year based on their GMAT scores and personal interviews. But, students of UMSL have an option of pursuing their first year itself at PGSBE,” said Mahesh Shankarmahesh, associate professor of marketing, UMSL and director, PGSBE. Students who come under this twinning programme are eligible for a dual degree from the respective institutes. The course fee, irrespective of whether the students take up the exchange programme, sums up to Rs 5 lakh for two years. “The added advantage is that one-third of the courses will be taught by international faculty. We also guarantee internships in US for the students eligible to pursue a year of study at UMSL,” added Mr Shankarmahesh.
