Paris B-school to offer course in India

MUMBAI: Insead, the business school headquartered in Fontainebleau, Paris, is the latest one to jump into the growing executive education bandwagon in the country. It will soon offer a dedicated, 12-month programme in business management for mid-to-senior-level Indian executives, with about 10-15 years of work experience.

Candidates opting for the Insead Leadership Programme for Senior Indian Executives will have to shell out Rs 16.5 lakh for the programme which will begin from August 2011. “We expect about 75 participants from India,” said Antoine Ting, partner, development of executive education, at Insead. The classes will be held for a week every month in India, and three weeks in Singapore and Paris.

The course will focus on building up functional knowledge of participants in conjunction with offering skills in general management. The mainstay of the programme is learning through peers in areas such as negotiations, persuasion, communication and coaching. Courses on accounting, finance, marketing and strategy will also be a part of the programme.

The Insead team has spoken to some 30 companies, from both the public and private sector, to develop course content. “There’s a pressing need to build the next generation of leaders, gain global perspective and develop expertise across the functional aspects of management,” said Paddy Padmanabhan, co-programme director and professor of marketing at Insead.

With increased corporate earnings and Indian firms going global, executive education is on the rise here. Corporate spend on education is up, said Abhinav Mital, project manager, Parthenon Group, the strategic advisory firm that specialises in education.
“At least 2,000 professionals opt for executive programmes in India every year.”