Design institute mull setting up centres abroad

Jaidev Majumdar in Kolkata

Interior design institute Exterior-Interiors is mulling opening new centres in Sri Lanka, Bahrain and Malaysia. All the centres are expected to begin operations by end-2002.

Exterior-Interiors is based in Kolkata and as of now, operates in eight centres across the country. The institute also has 3 campuses located in USA, Bangladesh and Nepal. The addition of the three new centres will be undertaken by the institute for an investment of Rs 4 crore.

Of the 3 new centres, the Sri Lanka operations is slated to begin by March 2002. The institute has tied up with Sri Lanka International Institute of Advanced Technical Training (SLIIATT) which functions under the Sri Lanka government’s ministry of education.

According to Exterior-Interiors’ Managing Director Mr Ashish Mitra, the institute will use SLIATT’s infrastructure in Sri Lanka to set up the centres and also send its own manpower. “SLIATT has 80 centres across Sri Lanka but we have told them that we are interested in only five of them to begin with,” he said.

Exterior-Interiors offers a one-year diploma course in interior designing and has about a 90 per cent placement record till date. “We have our students placed in many of the reputed paint companies like Berger and Jenson & Nicholson. But our biggest employer is Gautier till now,” Mr Mitra says.