Kolkata institute, Future Group tie up

KOLKATA: The Kolkata-based International Institute of Advanced Studies (IIAS) has entered into a collaboration with Kishore Biyani’s Future Group to conduct specialised courses on retail management.

IIAS will initially conduct short-term courses on merchandising and store designing.

While IIAS will launch the courses at its Kolkata and Siliguri campuses, plans are afoot to extend such programmes to other campuses in Goa, Bhillai and Dehradun.

“We have entered into a strategic agreement with Future Group’s Pantaloon Retail India to launch short-term courses in six months,” said Abhijit De, chairman and president, IIAS Group of
Institutions.

As per the agreement, Future Group will jointly design courses for IIAS. Future Group will also absorb students at the end of the curriculum.

“We are also talking with other retail chains to start similar courses. Plans are there to start a full-time MBA course on retail management,“ added Mr De.

Incidentally, Future Group has a similar agreement with several other management institutes like Narsee Monjee, IISWBM, KJ Somaiya and Welingkars.

It has also started the initiative to build a specialised talent pool in various nuances of modern retail.