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Part of a series of activities to fight terror and create an active democratic participation among the youth, the initiative also involves preparation of an SIMC Charter of Peace. Along the lines of CNN-IBN Citizens Charter, SIMCas Charter will incorporate suggestions made by students to combat terror along with inputs by experts who presided over the Combat Terror campaign. The SIMC Charter will later be handed over to the State Home Minister as well as Union Home Minister Mr P Chidambaram.

Speakers present on the occasion were MN Singh a Former Commissioner of Police, Mumbai, Vinay Sahasrabuddhe a Director General of RSS-run NGO, Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini, Asghar Ali Engineer a Social activist and Head, Centre for Study of Society and Secularism, Santosh Desai a CEO, Future Brands Limited, Zaffar Iqbal a Special Correspondent, NDTV J&K;, Dr Abhay Shukla a Senior Programme Coordinator, SATHI-CEHAT, Prof Parimal Merchant a Member, Humanist Party of India, Mr Anjum Rizvi a Producer of the Hindi film, A Wednesday, Mr Vinay Tewari a Executive Editor, CNN-IBN, Ms Deepthy Menon a Bureau Chief, Times Now, Mumbai and Mr. Vijay Pamarathi a Chief Outreach Coordinator, Jaago Re a One Billion Votes campaign.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr SB Mujumdar, Chancellor, Symbiosis International University, said that the tragedy of todayas youth is that they are angry for a very limited period. aThere is no permanent angera which is important to achieve faster and better results, he said. In the same vein, Tewari said that the anger and agitation that is felt after incidents like Mumbaias 26/11, fade away soon after. aWe felt we had to something concrete and CNN-IBNas Citizensa Charter is a step in that direction,a he said.

In recognition for their efforts to bring about positive change in society, Deepthy Menon and Vijay Pamarathi were awarded with SIMCas Combat Terror award. Menon was awarded for the coverage of the Mumbai attack and Pamarathi, for his voter registration campaign, Jaago Re.
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GD/PI process is the second stage of the preparations - the part where not only academic concepts, but also ability to be articulate about them, are judged. Expression of thought, intention and purpose is of significant importance for any individual holding a managerial post. Hence the corresponding weight allotted to this stage of the selection process. A daylong event, it will comprise of quizzes, seminars as well as mock interviews and group discussions with feedback at each stage. Aspirants will be offered a platform to interact with students, alumni and faculty of the institute and get their opinions/views on various topics.
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The theme to E Week 2009 is aGo Green! The world is our businessa. The climatic challenges we face, as the economic growth spreads across the world, are enormous, and addressing these challenges will provide some of the biggest opportunities for this generation of entrepreneurs.

NEN is co-hosting E Week 2009 with over 400 academic institutes, and entrepreneur support associations and corporate including The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), IBM, Proto.in, Indian Angel Networks, New Ventures India, Chennai Open Coffee Club, VentureWoods, WATBlog and Mumbai Angels. EWeek Indiaas media partners are: PaGaLGuY, Business Gyan, MBA Universe, Cool Avenues, Smart Techie, JAM and DARE.

As part of the weeklong celebrations, E Week partners and hosts ran more than 3000 entrepreneurship activities across 30 cities and towns. These activities included panel discussions, movie screenings, seminars, workshops, cycle rallies, free emission checks, and even agreena fashion shows. In addition, many E Week celebrants renewed their vow to continue building an entrepreneurial India by taking the aE Week 2009 Pledgea.

Laura Parkin, Executive Director, NEN & Wadhwani Foundation says, aOver the past two years, E Week has proven to be a powerful platform for engaging and showcasing the entrepreneurial spirit and passion of Indiaas youth, and provides young people with an excellent chance to reach out to the broader community. This year we are delighted at the amazing increase in participation: E Weekas wonderful hosts and partners will bring E Week to all parts of India, and engage both professionals and students. E Week India demonstrates to the country and the world the spirit of innovation and drive that will fuel Indiaas economic future.a

For more information, visit: www.eweekindia.org
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Also, a blog http://jbimsadmission.blogspot.com/ to help CET aspirants was launched, which has interview of top five rankers in CET. The blog consists of basic information about seats available in colleges, cut offs, management exams and other frequently asked questions. Queries relate mostly to preparation strategies for CET, group discussions, personal interviews, salient features of preparation during the last 15 days, strategy on exam day, mistakes to avoid, life at JBIMS etc. Before launching the blog, the students also conducted 14 sessions with CET coaching classes and colleges in Mumbai, which were attended by around 1500 students.

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At the forum, faculty from fields like economics, finance, law and political science will discuss the causes of the crisis, its national and global impact and strategies for intervention. Panelists will also explore the possibility of fundamental and permanent changes to the global economy.

"The current economic and financial crisis, the most severe since the Great Depression," Gutmann said, "will not be wasted at Penn. Integrating knowledge across disciplines is an essential mission of higher education in the 21st century, and this crisis represents an extraordinary opportunity for Penn to bring together outstanding faculty from economics, politics, law and finance to share their insights with our entire community regarding the causes and likely consequences of a defining moment in our nation's history. I am extremely grateful to our Trustee David Silfen and his wife, Lyn, for their generosity in making this and future forums possible."

The Forum participants include:

  • Harold Cole, professor of economics at the University of Pennsylvania.
  • Donald F Kettl, a political scientist and the Robert A Fox Leadership Professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
  • Jennifer Amyx, assistant professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania.
  • Richard Marston, the James RF Guy Professor of Finance and Economics at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
  • David Skeel, the S Samuel Arsht Professor of Corporate Law at the University of Pennsylvania.

A live webcast will be available at www.upenn.edu/president/silfenforum/webcast.html
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The School will take in 120 students for the term beginning June 2009, and 60 each in October '09, and January a10. The students will be required to select two countries of choice, as
part of their curriculum to not only become familiar with the business
customs and practices specific to these countries, but also understand
how business is done in those countries. The two year full time academic program comprising 720 hours of class room work with 36 courses will cost Rs. 9.6 lacs.

The school is founded by a team of professors and spear-headed by Dean Sankaran, Professor of International Business, formerly with Rutgers University, the State University of New Jersey and Emory University. The Board of Governors include Prof PV Indiresan, Former Director, IIT Madras, Fr PD Thomas, Former Director, XLRI, Dr RK Raghavan, Former Director, CBI, and Dr V Kumar, Professor of Marketing, Georgia State University.

The academic advisory board is led by Dr Jagdish N. Sheth, Professor of Marketing, Emory University and includes Dr Avijit Ghosh, Vice President, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, Dr Usha Nair-Reichert, Professor of Economics, Georgia Institute of Technology, Dr Ram S Sriram, Professor of Accounting, Georgia State University, Dr Thomas Allen, Professor Emeritus, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dr Patricia G. Greene, Professor of Entrepreneurship, Babson College, and Dr Rajan Chandran, Vice Dean, Fox School of Business, Temple University. The Business Advisory Group is chaired by Dr V Krishnamurthy, Chairman, National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council.

The Assistant Dean, Ms. Sundari, said, aWe are seeking to admit
students whose aspirations are high and whose achievements demonstrate
such aspirations. We are looking for candidates who are in the top ten
percentile based on the CAT/XAT exams or the GMAT. However, our
admission is based on a complete profile of the applicant. While
academic brilliance is important, we believe that active participation
in performing arts or sports or demonstrated leadership in activities,
adds to a complete profilea.
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This award is in recognition of his efforts and achievements in Institution Building and Management Education. Prof. Bhushan has developed IBS-Mumbai into a centre of excellence in business education at the Post-Graduate level. He is on the Advisory Board of the International Entrepreneurship Forum and is currently the aSenior Enterprise Fellowa at the University of Essex in UK. Also, he was awarded the Dewang Mehtaas aLife Time Achievementa Award sponsored by ESSAR at Mumbai on September 26, 2008.

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Discussing at the occasion Prof Dr Uday Salunkhe, Group Director of Welingkar Education expressed, aWelingkar Education provides managerial talent with risk managing ability, passion for learning and creative thinking and, values in rapidly evolving economic and social environment. We will implement same culture & practice in our new Bengaluru We School campus.a

The institute has also launched a Junior Management Leadership Program with Infosys BPO which is a corporate education program designed for Infosys BPO employees. The programme provides exposure in the areas of Management and business related subjects with special focus on industry perspective.
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Students from cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Jaipur and Durgapur have organized rallies, marathons, and exhibitions to spread the message of eco-sensitive entrepreneurship. Thousands took to the streets to educate people about sustainable living and the benefits of using eco-friendly products and services. Indore, a hotspot of the campaign, made effective use of its 95 public buses: Large flexes conveying the ills of energy wastage were placed on their rear windows, while batches of students hopped onto the buses and educated passengers about ecopreneurship and made them sign the E Week pledge.

Shubha Narayanan, NENas in-house blogger who is currently touring the country covering E Week, finds that interest in Green Entrepreneurship on Indiaas college campuses is at an all time high. Students are discussing, debating, and exploring the benefits and challenges of establishing green ventures. This week, Harish Hande, founder of SELCO, will discuss about bringing cost and energy-efficient products to rural India.

For more information visit: www.eweekindia.org
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"We look forward to working with Schulich on this significant new MBA program a one that will provide diverse international perspectives and an opportunity to synthesize Western efficiency and Eastern ethos," said Dr. Manesh L. Shrikant, Honorary Dean of The S.P. Jain Institute of Management & Research.

The Executive Director of the Schulich India MBA Program is Dr Ashwin Joshi, Schulich Associate Professor of Marketing. The Schulich India MBA Program will be delivered by faculty members from the Schulich School and SPJIMR.
The program is currently awaiting final approval from AICTE.
The Schulich School of Business has in the past had exchange partner agreements with a number of B-schools, including IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore and Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad.
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This initiative is designed to assist the development of professional service firm partners and associates throughout Europe. It combines academic content with practical skills and techniques based sessions, turning the concepts and ideas into specific actions that improve individual, practice and firm performance.

The programmes will bring together business academicians from the University of Cambridge, such as Professor Dame Sandra Dawson KPMG Professor of Management Studies and Professor David Yates (former COO of Baker & McKenzie), with consulting professionals with experience in providing strategic, leadership and personal advice and skills development to professional service firm leaders. Amongst those professionals on the programmeas faculty is a leading consultant Rob Lees, co-author with Harvard Business School Professors Tom DeLong and Jack Gabarro, of aWhen Professionals Have To Leada which, since its publication has established itself as required reading for professional service firm partners.

Commenting on the initiative, Professor Arnoud De Meyer, Director of Judge Business School said: aFor a long time we have admired the way top US business schools have led the way in providing management education for professional service firm partners; their programmes are first rate and attract professionals from around the world. In establishing a new style of open leadership programme, here in Cambridge, England, with its focus on implementation as well as theoretical insight and which offers a truly international perspective, we hope to create the basis for some healthy competition.a

For more information visit: http://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/execed/open/suite_excellenceinpsf.html
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Gazi Baba, whose real name was Rana Tahir Nadeem, was the mastermind behind the Parliamentary attack which took place on Dec. 13, 2001. The hunt for Gazi Baba took final shape in July of 2003 and the final operation was made possible based on information received, after sustained interrogation, from a captured associate of Jaish-e-Mohammadas leader. By means of a video, the audience was shown how the exact operation was carried out.

DIG of BSF, Mr K Srinivasan, who delivered the presentation, spoke about the adverse situations and various constraints which the BSF has to face during various operations; some of which he emphasized such as time, man-power, civil environment. He also spoke about the problems which BSF and various other forces face with the Media and how they tackled the same during this operation. Mr Srinivasan also mentioned certain things which they learnt from this particular operation. The BSF had been taken aback by the fact that the enemy had concealed CCTV on the premises which had given away their surprise encounter.

The operation had not ended with killing Gazi Baba, and the BSF went ahead to take down his successor Sehrai Baba, leaving Jaish-e-Mohammad without any formal leader.The talk was concluded with a round of questions which revolved around issues such as LTTE, militancy in Kashmir, over ground workers (those who motivate terrorists), and the porous Bangladesh border.
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What are the latest changes and additions to the Wharton MBA program structure?

Wharton has a fairly long standing history of innovation. Going by how quickly the economic environment around us is changing, we're responding by introducing new courses and electives into the curriculum. We recently launched a course focused on the implications of the current economic crisis.

We've also launched a research initiative called the Wharton Interactive Media Initiative. This will be a very data-driven research endeavour on interactive media, how to monetize interactive media, looking at the content distribution side as well as the information acquisition side. We'll also be looking interactive media from the point of view of traditional business who are trying to figure out how to collect newer data streams. The initiative is being launched as a research stream and will also be offered as an elective.

How is Wharton's applicant pool responding to the MBA admissions in light of the economic crisis? Have you seen a marked change in application numbers in Round 1 and 2?

Round 1 was up significantly and in comparison, Round 2 was rather flat. But when you combine both Round 1 and 2, there is definitely a rise in application numbers of a lower single digit percentage. The quality and diversity of the pool that we have always been enjoying is intact.

There's a theory that people want to ride out economic crises in the comfortable environment of colleges. Do you think then that the increase in applications is rather low?

If you look across the top 10 business schools worldwide, the increase is more or less the same. I must add that the decision to come to a top school such as Wharton is not driven by volatile factors such as changes in the economy. Furthermore, we're also seeing that application numbers are down internationally, largely due to uncertainty around student loans.

Citiassist, the main borrower to international students at Wharton has withdrawn its loan program. Is a replacement in order?

The Citiassist withdrawal news got a lot of people internationally to rethink whether to apply to an expensive MBA program or not. I can tell you that we are in talks at a couple of places to replace Citiassist with a new loan program. Right now, it looks certain that there will be a product available for the incoming MBA class. I cannot go into the details of the product because it is premature, but I can say that the terms of the loan will not be the same as they used to be. The loan would have higher interest rates and attached charges. We are in the process of figuring all this out and will know soon.

In what ways are career opportunities after MBA getting affected for international students at Wharton?

Historically as well as for our current class, international students are as successful in finding employment as they were. The opportunities have become scarce for consulting and finance jobs, which used to be top choices. However, our international students are finding themselves well positioned for opportunities in their home countries.

If anybody is looking to work in the US, the opportunities available depend on the industry that they are targeting. We are addressing the challenge rising out of the economic crisis by hiring a dedicated Global Careers Advisor. This person is working closely with the international students in figuring out opportunities on a global scale.

The abundance of Finance jobs is one of the reasons behind Wharton's popularity among prospective applicants. Do you think that the scarcity of these jobs will affect the Wharton MBA brand?

I don't agree that that Wharton's brand value will be affected. We are known for a rich, quantitative and data-driven academic program, the content of which is applicable even to a function like marketing. We are known for our fairly deep analytical rigour. That part of the brand will remain strengthened.

The fact that we're known for being strong in Finance also means that we're part of the evolution of what happens to Finance now. We have an important role in helping to figure out how the new finance order is going to look like. Our huge faculty from various departments related to Finance is engaged in research around the economic crisis and I think we have a lot to contribute directly to the future of this area.

With salaries plummeting, how would you justify the return on investment for an expensive MBA such as Wharton's?

We never try to position a business school as a place to get rich quickly. In fact in the last few years, the outside world has continued to escalate salaries and it is now that we will see the market normalize. Despite the falling salaries, the return on investment of a Wharton MBA will still be very high. With a Wharton MBA, you have access to over 85,000 alumni around the globe at high positions and the oportunity to study a deeply analytical and quantitative MBA program. The pay-back period may seem longer, but now is the time to invest in a top-class education.

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The convocation ceremony was addressed by Guest of Honour, Mr NK Palta, CEO, Maini Aerospace. The procession was lead by Board of ISME which includes senior management from Indian Statistical Institute, Quality Council of India, NITTE, Total Environment, Rave Technologies, Makino India and IMRB International. Srishakti Saravana Prabhu, PGPM 2008 batch, was awarded for his outstanding overall performance by Dr Pankaj Chandra, Director - IIM - Bangalore on ISME Convocation the day.

This was followed by a panel discussion on the subject of aConvergence of Technology and Management for National Developmenta. The panelists included senior management from Empower Research, TPI India, Oracle, Hansa Research, IIIT a Bangalore, 3 D Solid Compression, Imint Points, and IBM. The panel felt that students should be trained to have a global and a rural exposure; be analytical and creative at the same time; have business process and domain expertise and be able to use technology for enterprise and national development.
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Funded by the WK Kellogg Foundation, the study, aThe Voices of Diversitya will explore the views of minority students, including their accounts of their curricular, co-curricular and social experiences. Students will be asked to describe what, on their campus, has made them feel welcomed, respected, supported and encouraged, and what has made them feel unwelcomed, disrespected, unsupported and discouraged.

The project is funded by a $400,000 grant from the WK Kellogg Foundation of Michigan for the first year and focuses on undergraduate students from four universities. Researchers will interview female and male African-American, Asian-American, Hispanic and American Indian students as well as a limited number of white students as a control group.

"What is unique about this research is that we will assess the progress of diversity on college and university campuses from the students' perspectives," says ETS Senior Vice President Michael Nettles of ETS's Policy Evaluation & Research Center. "We want to learn what factors promote students' academic and social success and whether that varies depending on their race and sex. This information could help administrators, educators, policymakers, students and their families improve campus environments and student experiences."

Nettles and his staff will conduct the research with Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Director of Harvard's WEB Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research, and Dr. Paula J. Caplan, a Research Associate at the Du Bois Institute and former Professor of Applied Psychology, University of Toronto.
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In order to assess Orissaas progress and to suggest measures to accelerate the process of achieving MDGs in Orissa, Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar (XIMB) and UNICEF, Orissa have taken the lead to form a State-Level Multi-Stakeholder Forum on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This forum consists of representatives from the government, international agencies, civil society organizations, corporates, academia, political party and media. The first meeting of this Forum was held on December 17, 2008 at XIMB.

The second meeting of the forum was held on February 16, 2009 and it was inaugurated by the Chief Guest Ms Vandana Jena, IAS, Principal Secretary, School and Mass Education Department. The meeting was attended by Mr Aurobindo Behera, IAS, MD, Industrial Development Corporation, Guest of Honor and Mr Shadrack Omol, Chief UNICEF, Guest of Honor. Fr Blacius Ekka, XIMB. The key-note address was delivered by Mr Shadrack Omol.

A status note was presented by Prof S Peppin, XIMB followed by a short video documentary on MDG 2 by Mr Prosun Sen, UNICEF. This was followed by a panel discussion moderated by Dr Dhanada Mishra, HDF. The panel formulated and submitted an Action Plan to accelerate the realization of MDG2. The members who participated in the panel discussion include Mr Nikunj Dhal, IAS, State Project Director, OPEPA, Mr Surjayakant Mohanty, Centre Head, Wipro, Fr. Blacius Ekka, XIMB, Fr. Panka Toppo, XIMB, Dr Rashmi Mishra, Faculty, NCDS and Mr. Ranjan Mohanty, Secretary, PECUC. Faculty members from XIMB, Human Development Foundation (HDF), Utkal University and other members from civil society, media and UNICEF. Dr. Mamata Mishra, Senior Research Assistant, XIMB proposed the vote of thanks.
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The first session was conducted by Mr AK Rajwade. He is a part of The Expert Group on Development of the Foreign Exchange Markets in India (1995) and Committees on Capital Account Convertibility (1997 and 2006) appointed by the Reserve Bank of India, Advisory Council of Currency Derivative Segment for MCS Stock Exchange Ltd and the Executive Committee (Futures and Options Segment), National Stock Exchange. His talk threw light on various aspects of risk management and the current financial environment. He also spoke about the history of banking and the economic philosophies that has led to the financial crisis in recent times.
The second Diksha session was conducted by Mr. Krishna Majithia, the Director, Head of Market Risk Management for India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh at Citibank. Mr Majithia shared a first hand perspective on the risk management and risk mitigation strategies applied by banks. His talk traced a series of events leading up to the current financial situation and the steps that would have to be adopted by the practitioners of financial management to deal with the after effects of this financial downturn.
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The partnership aims to support educational, professional and cross-cultural projects and activities in management research and education among students, faculty, staff and business communities of the two institutions. This strategic partnership encompasses the following areas of cooperation:
a Exchange of students in the MBA and MSc (Management) programmes
a Exchange of faculty
a Development of joint research projects
a Development of joint executive education programmes
a Development of the Double Degree MBA

The new NUS MBA and HEC Paris Double Degree MBA will increase the options for students of both institutions who want in-depth business knowledge in Europe and Asia. Students will pursue studies at both institutions by completing first year core elements at one institution, and continue with second year options at the second institution, earning an MBA degree each from HEC Paris and NUS. Students will also be able to leverage on the institutional and alumni networks of both schools as well as the business communities in Singapore and Europe.

HEC Paris and NUS Business School are both full academic members of the CEMS Global Alliance in Management Education, with NUS Business School being the first in Asia to be a full CEMS member. The partnership of 27 business schools and 57 multinational companies aims to promote excellence in management education. CEMS provides a platform for these institutions to tie up with its grouping of corporate partners to provide students with real-world experience and practical business skills.

aThe cooperation between NUS Business School and HEC Paris during the 1998-2008 period has been extremely rich in terms of exchange of students and faculty cooperation. This is why we can open a new phase of strategic partnership building on synergies between Europe and Asia, and on a Double Degree MBA agreementa, said Professor Bernard Ramanantsoa, Dean of HEC Paris.
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The inaugural India Challenge was held in April last year and was won
by Mumbaias Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies with a
research done on New Delhi Television Ltd. Now in its second year, the India Challenge this year spanned eight months with 16 universities participating across the country. In the preliminary round, the competing teams were divided into groups of four under four zones a northern, western, southern, and eastern, with each zone assigned a publicly traded company to be researched upon. Over the course of the competition, students of the participating teams were mentored by analysts and portfolio managers in writing equity research reports on the assigned companies. In the preliminary round, the teams presented their research work to a panel of investment industry experts, who selected the final four.

The Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS) - Mumbai team will represent India to compete with teams from China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Taiwan at the CFA Institute Asia Pacific Regional Investment Research Challenge in Singapore on March 07, 2009. The regional winner will then move on to compete in the CFA Institute Global Investment Research Challenge on April 02, 2009 in London.

aAs a fund manager myself, I read many research reports and I must say the quality of work done by the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS) - Mumbai team students is very much on par with what Iam seeing in the real world. This achievement is a testimony of their capabilities and will definitely serve them well as they enter the profession,a says Sunil B. Singhania, CFA, president of the India Association of Investment Professionals.

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BRIC, an acronym coined by Goldman Sachs in 2001 to categorize the leading emerging economies a Brazil, Russia, India and Chinaawhich have the potential to rank as the four dominant economies of the world by 2050. This led way for many associations amongst these countries for mutual benefits and growth of economy. Later South Africa was added in the list due to its promising future creating the new acronym, BRICS. Taking the BRICS association one step further, the BRICS Business Schools joined hands in April 2008 in Shanghai for mutual cooperation. The same year, a Memorandum of Cooperation among BRICS universities was signed in Moscow.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Ramesh Venkateswaran, Director, SDM-IMD said, "The institute has always aimed to offer the best education to its students. Our associations with such globally recognized institutes will give our students a wider perspective to the world of business management. We already have exchange programs with Texas A&M; University and Shanghai University. With these new relationships formed, SDMIMD is now truly a global management education provider."

The other members of the BRICS Business School Consortium are FGV-EAESP (Brazil), State University for Management (Moscow), Xavier Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship (India), PSG Institute of Management (India), University of International Business and Economics (China), Guangdong University of Foreign Studies (China), Shantou University (China), Renmin University of China (China, Graduate School of Business (University of Kwazulu Natal, South Africa).