University of Bradford business school ‘shakes hands’ with Indian counterpart
Plans for exchange students and ‘communities across borders’ venture to promote eco-friendly ‘circular economies’
University of Bradford’s triple-crown accredited business school has signed a memorandum of understanding with IIM Jammu, part of India’s prestigious business school network.
The IIM network of business schools was set up over 70 years ago and consists of approximately 20 high calibre, world-class and research-led management institutions, offering a range of undergraduate through to doctoral and executive education programmes.
It is hoped the memorandum will enable exchange student visits and a number of other collaborative ventures.
Professor Shirley Congdon, Vice-Chancellor of University of Bradford, signed the memorandum online on September 4, alongside Professor B S Sahay, Director IIM Jammu.
She said: “We are committed to driving social mobility and social inclusion at local, regional and global levels, to improve social and economic growth, and through our teaching, research and knowledge exchange to deliver impact, such as through entrepreneurship. Schools of management are at the centre of this vision.
“We are proud to see we are expanding our partners across the globe, especially in India, which has so many opportunities, talents and skills, especially in its institutes of management. We know partnerships are long-term relationships and we are signifying via this memorandum that we will work with IIM Jammu in a serious endeavour to push forward our shared objectives.”
Prof Sahay said: “These collaborations are a vital part of IIM Jammu’s international endeavors and these will be helpful in fostering the advancement in teaching, research, cultural understanding as well as the international reputation of both the institutes through student exchange, faculty exchange, joint management and research programmes.”
IIM Jammu is one of the latest additions to an expanding pool of international partnerships which extend across Europe, the Middle East, the Far East and Pacific.
The memorandum covers a range of planned activities such as student exchange (including the School of Management’s International Masters Summer School), joint doctoral research supervision, academic staff exchange, and in December 2020, the delivery of a virtual conference on ‘Circular Economy’ to both Indian and UK audiences.
Head of School of Management Professor Sankar Sivarajah said: “It is a pleasure to be joining forces with such a reputable institution and the School is very much looking forward to building our strategic relationship and working on meaningful projects.”
Professor Amir Sharif, Associate Dean (International & Accreditations) said: “This partnership showcases great teamwork across the university and supports the growth of our broad international partnership strategy in South Asia. We hope we can extend initiatives such as our longstanding Entrepreneurs Across Borders (EAB) programme. We are also developing an additional initiative focused on inter-community links - Communities Across Borders (CAB) - which will seek to join culturally-linked communities with a shared heritage together through collaboration across areas such as sustainability, circular economy and entrepreneurship.”
Dean of the Faculty of Management, Law and Social Sciences, Professor Vishanth Weerakoddy added: “Through this collaboration, we hope to create a platform for our students in our prestigious business school to experience the rapidly developing, innovative and culturally rich industry and education sectors in India. We will be beginning our collaboration very soon and look forward to seeing positive outcomes.”