‘We aim to train as many as one lakh students over the next 10 years’

Mumbai-based Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS) is looking at diversifying into skills development and plans to impart vocational training to one lakh students over the next 10 years. Dr Rajan Saxena, vice-chancellor of NMIMS who also co-chairs the Ficci?s Higher Education Committee, spoke to FE?s Kirtika Suneja on this diversification and more on the sidelines of the Ficci higher education summit. Edited excerpts:

What brings you to the Ficci summit this year?

We are looking at partnerships with premier institutes from Canada and Scotland, especially for our business school. These partnerships could be in the form of collaborations in the areas of exchange relationships, faculty development and entrepreneurship. Manufacturing management and engineering are the two areas where we seek collaboration.

How are you developing these two areas within the institute?

We have 9,000 students and plan to set up a separate centre for skill development for manufacturing and services. Manufacturing will look at capital goods, chemical industries and automobiles, while services would include IT-ITeS and retail. We will not leave it at the vocational level but will also offer a BTech programme for students with work experience. Hence, our aim is to train one lakh students in the next 10 years. We plan to begin a pilot next academic year.

What sort of investment will be required for this?

We spend almost R4-5 crore on capital expenditure every year and this centre is still in a nascent stage. Moreover, our new B-school campus is also coming up which will be ready by next December. Plus, we are increasing the faculty strength to 100.

Do you plan to have offshore campuses like your peers?

We have campuses in other parts of the country but we don?t believe in creating offshore campuses. We have a planned strategy of getting overseas students and faculty. As far as students are concerned, it is our aspiration that 25% of our students be international students.

What plans do you have for the flagship MBA programme?

We intend to create a new law vertical for developing managers with legal understanding. These students will specialise in areas like IPRs and Competition Act, among others. This will be introduced in the form of electives in the second year. There is also the possibility of a full time doctoral programme to develop faculty who will have three kinds of skills?understanding management theories, pedagogic thinking and research skills.