Havells – the fast-moving electrical goods company – has set up a management school at Ashoka University, in Sonipat near New Delhi. It’s called the Havells School of Management & Leadership, and the FMEG major has committed Rs 250 crore endowment towards it.
Does Ashoka offer management courses?
Yes, it offers undergraduate students a range of courses in management, business, and entrepreneurship through the InfoEdge Centre for Entrepreneurship, but didn’t have a school of management or business. These courses will now be shifted to Havells School, which will be expanded over time – with new courses, far more students, and new centres of excellence.
How is it different?
Pramath Raj Sinha, founder of Ashoka University, told FE that the school will complement Ashoka’s focus on humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and computer science, and its management and leadership programmes will be fully integrated with Ashoka’s liberal education approach.
What does that mean?
Instead of regular management courses, the school will offer UG programmes like Applied Liberal Arts and Management (for the first time in India), with the aspiration to becoming one of the top-10 UG programmes in the area of management globally.
It will also have integrated PG programmes, in partnership with leading schools of business and management in India and abroad.
Sinha added that while it will function under the shadow of Ashoka, over time it will be able to create its own identity, just like some global management schools have done. Examples are the Saïd Business School of Oxford University, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Sloan School of Management of the MIT, Marshall School of Business of the University of Southern California, and Stern School of Business of New York University.
How much grant has it received?
Anil Rai Gupta, MD, Havells India, told FE that Rs 250 crore has been earmarked for the school, which is Havells’ third and largest grant to Ashoka. In 2014, the late Qimat Rai Gupta – who made Havells a global MNC – made the first grant to Ashoka.
He said the school will distinguish itself by its academic and industry partnerships – in India and internationally – to facilitate student exchange programmes, build joint programmes, offer market-recognised certifications, build executive education programmes, and enable visiting and cross-appointed faculty collaborations. New centres of excellence will also be set up that will focus on encouraging entrepreneurship and innovation amongst students.
Who will be the teachers?
The school will get new teachers from India and abroad (academicians), and will also have industry experts possibly as visiting faculty.
How can you get admission?
Sinha said the school will use Ashoka’s internal entrance examination system, and the admission process is being worked out.
Do corporates invest in universities?
Yes, many of them do. For example, the Trivedi School of BioSciences at Ashoka University has been supported by Ashok Trivedi (entrepreneur, investor, philanthropist); the Harish and Bina Shah School of Humanities by the Harish & Bina Shah Foundation; and the Rakesh Jhunjhunwala School of Economics and Finance was set up in recognition of the support received over the years from the philanthropist and ‘big bull’ of the modern investment era, the late Rakesh Jhunjhunwala.
Last week, Axis Bank committed Rs 104 crore towards bolstering Ashoka’s PhD, post-doctoral, and research programmes.