Ayurveda advocate
In his office in a corporate tower in Andheri, a bustling suburb of Mumbai, Atul Shah, vice president of Agron India Pvt. Ltd sits at his desk surrounded by a plethora of pharma, dairy, herbal and cosmetic products manufactured and/ or distributed by Agron India, an export-import manufacturing and general trading company.
Promoted in 1990, Agron India represents several Indian and foreign companies as an exclusive distributor and stockist and has a wide distribution network. Agron has now made a foray into the services sector, specifically healthcare. The company’s administrative headquarters boasts an in-house ayurvedic spa christened Naturon Panchakrama.
"Panchakarma is an important branch of the ancient Indian science of ayurveda which is widely practiced in Kerala to this day. Agron India’s main objective is to resuscitate traditional Indian healing arts which date back several thousand years, and to make the world recognise their merits. For this purpose, we have set up this unique, scaled down specialty treatment centre," says Shah.
To this end this Mumbai-based company has drawn up ambitious plans. Agron has constituted a panel of ayurveda practitioners who have been conducting intensive research on the subject. Shah describes Agron India’s Panchakarma detox programme as "a complete treatment for the mind, body and soul". "It is a unique therapy for detoxification, cleansing and rejuvenation of vital body organs. If ayurveda deals with prevention and cure, Naturon Panchakarma therapy helps both the healthy and ailing," says Shah.
With ayurvedic therapies beginning to gain ground, Agron India is in an expansion mode. "We want to establish a chain of ayurvedic spas based on the Naturon Panchakarma model in India and abroad. They will be owned by Agron India and franchisees trained by us. The time-honoured traditions of ayurveda and natural cures is an idea whose time has come again," says Shah.
Ronita Torcarto (Mumbai)
Monash visionary
In Mumbai recently to announce the establishment of the first Indo-Australian research institute in India — the IITB-Monash Research Academy (project cost: Rs. 36 crore) — Prof. Richard Larkins, vice-chancellor of Monash University, Australia forsees an exciting future for the academy jointly promoted by the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-B) and Monash, Australia’s largest and most international university. This joint venture is also supported by BHP Billiton, the world’s largest diversified resources company. Under a tripartite agreement, IIT-B will provide land on its sprawling 550-acre campus in Powai, Mumbai for the academy, Monash will invest Rs.30 crore in building and infrastructure with Billiton chipping in Rs.6 crore for research equipment and facilities. When fully operational, the IITB-Monash Research Academy will host 300-500 research fellows. "The research academy will be located in a state-of-the-art facility on the IIT-B campus. It will become a centre of excellence in researching clean energy, water, biotechnology, minerals exploration and computer simulation. The objective is fundamental research, graduate training and industry engagement while bringing together two world-class institutions to enable the next generation of scientists and engineers to contribute to the future economic growth of both countries," said Larkins while signing the memorandum of understanding between the two institutions.
A distinguished research academic in his own right in the fields of diabetes and endocrinology, Larkins was dean of medicine, dentistry and health sciences at Melbourne University and held the James Stewart Chair of Medicine at the Royal Melbourne Hospital (1984-97).
Larkins is bullish about the future of the IITB-Monash Research Academy. "I’d say about 20 percent of the faculty at the academy will be from Monash, while we can also look forward to regular exchange of students between the two institutions," he says. "This joint venture will obviously benefit both our countries. The thirst for quality higher education here is intense and with the promotion of this research academy not only do Australia and Monash get access to research output of the best Indian students, but India gets to retain best students here to pursue their Ph D programmes. It’s a win-win partnership."
Gaver Chatterjee (Mumbai)
Inventure pilot
Despite its decrepit infrastructure and intensifying traffic snarls, Bangalore continues to attract a steady stream of educationists and promoters of internationally benchmarked primary-cum-secondary schools. The latest classy school to debut in the garden city is the Inventure Academy, promoted last year by the India Learning Foundation, an education trust constituted by the Prestige Group — one of the garden city’s most respected names in construction and real estate. Spread across 27 verdant acres in the IT corridor on the periphery of the city, the Rs.20 crore Inventure Academy campus is fully-wired and offers state-of-the-art classrooms and laboratories in natural, well-ventilated surroundings. "India is under-served in terms of holistic, broad-based education. There’s a conspicuous lack of schooling that develops higher order thinking skills in children. The objective of Inventure Academy is to fill this void by delivering child-centric education which nurtures every student’s individuality, stimulates a passion for excellence, encourages innovation, dynamism and sensitivity," says Nooraine Fazal, a science and management postgraduate of Boston University and former IBM (USA) and Reuters professional who has returned to her hometown to pilot the academy.
According to Fazal, Inventure’s distinguishing characteristic is the internationally benchmarked holistic education it offers at a price which is affordable to a broad spectrum within India’s expanding middle class. At an annual fee of Rs.1 lakh, this K-XII school offers students the IGCSE (class X) and ‘A’ level (Plus Two) curriculums apart from intensive co-curricular and sports education. "Ninety minutes are earmarked in the school timetable everyday for co-curricular activities including dance, art, drama, music and a variety of indoor and outdoor sports. Moreover we encourage parents to get involved in their child’s education and boast a robust, interactive Parent Teacher Association which meets every six weeks to appraise school systems," says Fazal, managing trustee of the India Learning Foundation, adding that the school’s boarding facilities will be up and running by 2008.
Though currently solely offering the IGCSE curriculum, Inventure is all set to affiliate with the pan-India Council of Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) by the end of the year. Says Fazal: "Our objective is to be commonly acknowledged as one of the country’s top 10 schools and to play a major role in helping India emerge as a global hub of English-medium secondary school education."
Wind in your sails!
Summiya Yasmeen (Bangalore)
Pawar power
Spread over 100 acres of picturesque green hills and dale near Pune’s Lohegaon airport, the spanking new state-of-the-art Sharad Pawar International School (SPIS) is all set to admit its first batch of 350 kindergarten-class IX and class XI students on June 26 this year. Named after Maharashtra’s most durable politician and incumbent Union minister of agriculture, and president of the Board for Cricket Control in India (BCCI), the school, constructed at an estimated cost of Rs.40 crore is promoted by the Navi Mumbai-based D.Y. Patil Group, which has fostered over 100 education institutions across Maharashtra, especially in the Pune-Nashik-Sangli belt where Pawar enjoys unprecedented political popularity.To get the school off to a smooth start, the management of SPIS which is affiliated with Cambridge International Examinations (IGCSE) and the International Baccalaureate Organi-sation, Geneva, head-hunted Australian academic and educationist Michael Thomson after a global search for a principal with international experience. An alumnus of Monash University, Thomson has 20 years of teaching experience in Australia and has served as vice principal of Scotch Oakburn College, Tasmania; head of Barton College at Deakin University; and chairman of education and welfare at the University of Queensland.
"Globalisation has shrunk the world, putting pressure on education institutions to teach and shape students to become world citizens. Therefore our mission in SPIS is to prepare students to face emerging global challenges in every field by providing them with internationally benchmarked academic, co-curricular and sports education. I strongly believe high quality, outward looking education is the passport to future study and career opportunities in the new world order," says Thomson.
Quite obviously word is out and spreading rapidly that northern Maharashtra’s first international school is about to get going. According to Thomson, SPIS receives 40-plus admission queries everyday from anxious parents in India and abroad. "Our student body will comprise 70 percent Indian students, including children of NRIs. The rest will be overseas students. This balanced profile will make our school a truly international education institution," he says.
This state-of-the-art co-ed K-XII school will focus on child-centric pedagogies to develop creativity and analytical skills. "The objective is to create thinkers and leaders who can innovate to solve problems," says Thomson, who discloses that initially the school will be staffed with 35-45 teachers, one-third of whom will be Australians and Europeans.
Michael Gonsalves (Pune)
Chennai B-school drivers
The port city of Chennai is all set to inaugurate its second (after Great Lakes Institute of Management) global standard B-school. Four distinguished leaders of Indian industry — P.K Mohapatra, president and CEO of RPG Enterprises; K. Krishnan, executive director of Bharti Televentures Ltd; J.N Amrolia, executive director of Ashok Leyland and Mohan Menon, former director of Ogilvy and Mather (O&M) — have pooled formidable resources and their rich experience to promote the Chennai Business School (CBS) — "a uniquely different B-school" — at an estimated cost of Rs.2 crore. CBS’ first dean is Prof. A.S. Srinivasan, an alumnus of Madras University and Asian Institute of Management, Manila and hitherto chief executive of the Institute for Financial Management & Research, Chennai which is affiliated with the Open University Business School, UK.Sited on the Velachery-Taramani road in Chennai, CBS, which will admit its first batch of 160 students on July 3 this year, offers a unique one-year full time postgraduate diploma programme in four knowledge verticals, each of which has been designated a ‘varsity’. The vertical varsities are human resources, marketing communications (Marcom), retail and telecom management. CBS will also offer a part-time course in telecom management for working professionals.
"There is growing disappointment in Indian industry that B-school graduates are not sufficiently trained to handle real-life workplace challenges. Our aim is to bridge the chasm between the skill-sets required by industry and what management education institutions deliver. We plan to provide real work experience to students and transform them into highly motivated, industry-ready individuals, productive from day one," vows Mohan Menon, chairman of CBS’ Marcom Varsity. An alumnus of Bombay University, Menon has put in a long innings (35 years) at Ogilvy and Mather, among the world’s most successful advertising agencies.
Chennai Business School’s one year industry-driven courses are designed to include a general management course for the first semester (six months) followed by study of a core vertical (e.g human resources or telecom management). The first batch of 160 students will be instructed by six academics besides visiting faculty from industry. "Our unique course curriculum will combine academic rigour with intense practical training. The initial response has been encouraging both from students and working professionals," says Minnie Menon, associate dean and director, management development programmes at CBS. An alumna of Bombay University, she has 17 years work experience in advertising and marketing corporates and has teamed up with husband Menon in this venture. The fee for the full-time courses is Rs.1.5 lakh per year and Rs.75,000 for part-time programmes.
The wi-fi enabled campus of CBS housed in an impressive building (area: 15,000 sq.ft) is nearing completion and boasts excellent infrastructure facilities including air-conditioned classrooms, a well-stocked library, laboratories and canteen facilities. On the drawing board are plans to build another five-acre campus on the Old Mahab-alipuram Road, the knowledge corridor located on the outskirts of Chennai. Four new study verticals or ‘varsities’: finance, insurance, IT, and healthcare will also be introduced soon.
Hemalatha Raghupathi (Chennai)
Research missionary
The low profile Chennai-based SSN School of Advanced Software Engineering (SSNSASE) promoted in 2001 in academic collaboration with the blue-chip US-based Carnegie Mellon University (CMU — estb. 1900) which has acquired a global reputation for the excellence of its engineering — especially computer software and artificial intelligence — education, is all set to double its annual intake to 60 carefully chosen engineering graduates countrywide. These lucky three score will receive world class needs-blind education, culminating in a CMU Masters degree 18 months later. Applications for SSNSASE’s national entrance test to be held in Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai in mid-May must reach its office in Chennai by April 30.SSNSASE is one of the three colleges of engineering and business education promoted by the Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar Educational and Charitable Trust (SSNECT) constituted by Shiv Nadar, the path-breaking dollar billionaire and promoter-chairman of HCL Technologies Ltd (annual sales revenue: Rs.725 crore). Its 250-acre campus in Chennai also houses the SSN College of Engineering, and SSN School of Management.
"SSN institutes have been set up with the aim of becoming centres of excellence specialising in education and research. At SSNSASE we have established sophisticated computer labs for facilitating high-end research and software development. Over the past few decades India has built capability in low-end software applications. There is an urgent need for professionals in advanced research and high-end software development. This will be the focus of the SSNSASE-CMU partner-ship," says Dr. Shashikant Albal, an alumnus of VJTI, and IIT-Bombay who served with Mahindra British Telecom and Tata Consultancy Services for over three decades before signing up with SSNSASE in 2001 as its founder-director.
Under the collaboration agreement, CMU provides faculty support, curriculum and courseware while SSNSASE provides campus, labs and infrastructure. Moreover it is the first engineering college in India to offer two specialised full-time, residential, 18-month Master of Science programmes in information technology (MSIT) of CMU. Under this scheme 30 students are recruited into the two streams of the Masters programme in software engineering or robotics technology. Scholarships to cover 50-100 percent of tuition fees of US$42,000 (Rs.21 lakh) are available to all students admitted on the basis of their performance in the entrance test and interview.
Albal has an ambitious blueprint for the SSNSASE-CMU partnership. On the drawing board are plans to increase the annual student intake to 100, offer more high-end courses and establish a CMU powered research centre. "We also want to introduce advanced Masters programmes in mechanical and electronics engineering and set up a dedicated IT and robotics research academy in Chennai in collaboration with CMU," says Albal.
Way to go!
Srinidhi Raghavendra (Bangalore)