24.11.2009
Reutlingen University opens new center in India
Reutlingen University has opened a daughter institute in the Indian business metropolis of Mumbai. The objective is to encourage regular exchanges of German and Indian students and teaching staff as well as to support business by initiating business relationships between Germany and India. The partnership between the Economics Faculty at Reutlingen University (ESB Reutlingen) and the “SP Jain Institute of Management and Research” (SPJIMR) in Mumbai is supported by the European Union to the tune of 400,000 euros. The German Academic Exchange Service is promoting the exchange of researchers and students in the framework of its “A New Passage to India” programme. 12 Indian students have been studying in Reutlingen and 15 German students in Mumbai since summer 2009.
The partner institute in India, the “SPJIMR”, has a long-standing reputation as one of the ten best business schools in India, of which there are around 800 in total. One of its key focuses is helping to initiate successful business relationships. The new “Center for European Business Studies”, Reutlingen’s new daughter institute, is based on the university campus in Mumbai (the city, formerly known as Bombay, has a population of 18 million people). The Center offers interactive online lectures from Reutlingen for 20 universities in India, conferences which are intended to ease the way for Europeans into the Indian market, and explorations of market opportunities in which both German and Indian students shall take part. It is also intended to point people in India towards Europe. Reutlingen-based professors will offer on-the-job block lectures for Indian professionals. The basic programme offered by the Center leads to a university certificate and is intended to be the first step on the way to a fully fledged MBA degree.
The new Center in Mumbai was inaugurated last week by a delegation from Baden-Württemberg led by Minister President Günther Oettinger. The British Reutlingen-based Professor Dennis De will act in Mumbai as the founding director. His aim is to establish the Center as a bridge between science and business. And he is convinced both Indians and Germans will benefit from the new development.
