A report has suggested that it is likely that British students considering taking MBA courses in the UK will find it increasingly hard to find loans to cover the cost of their post-graduate studies.

According to a report in the Financial Times, the appeal of MBA courses in the US had recently been increasing among British students, thanks to the weak dollar.

However, the paper has now learnt that the credit crunch has dramatically reduced the number of student loans available for those considering such post-graduate courses.

It pointed to research carried out by the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators that showed that 50 lenders have suspended their post-graduate student loan deals.

“The cost of loan repayment is particularly high for students from outside the US who apply for loans from US institutions,” the paper explained.

“This is because credit references are not required and also the lenders find it harder to track down students on graduation if they return to their home countries.”

As a result, a British student looking for a post-graduate student loan in the US can expect to have to pay interest of around seven per cent.

With US MBA courses typically costing around $150,000 (£75,000) to complete, the rising price of loans could put many British students off, even though they know they will be able to secure high-paying jobs after graduation.

Source : gaapweb.com

For Indian Business Schools with global ambitions, Singapore is fast, hot as a goal. Earlier this year, IIM Bangalore announced its plans for the creation of a campus. And now Mumbai-based SP Jain Institute of Management and Research expects to likewise.

If this SP Jain overall the second incursion within two years. In 2004, the Institute has a campus in Dubai and was the first to offer a full residential full-time MBA program in the Middle East. Beflügelt by its success, it now has its sights on Singapore.

It is interesting to note that both SP Jain and IIM-B-plane orientation of the Indian diaspora in Singapore. Nearly 7.9 percent of 4 million people of Singapore are of Indian origin, this is the third ethnic group by the Chinese (76.8 percent) and Malays (13.9 percent).

IIM-B is planning to target the leaders to work in Singapore is short-term programmes Executive Education and Executive MBA, while SP Jain can be full-time program or an Executive MBA. “What are we going programmes make a bit of localization,” says ML Shrikant, dean of volunteers, SP Jain. “There will be a strong component of India programmes, such as the Modern World increasingly interested in India in the region, “she added.

Both IIM-B and SP Jain plan to fly down right in India. This could lead to a serious crisis of the resource, especially for SP Jain, given that the same option is also Deputy Director of Dubai. “This is probably a lot more pressure on resources, therefore we are in the process of the Faculty employs more,” said Shrikant

In an interview with the media today, PraMod Dr Kumar, director SIBM, “said Conference in regard to questions about the role of banks and financial institutions, the role of multinationals and public sector ’s role information technology industry, R & D and technology human resource management, management and the changing role of unions. The role of industry in the development of ethical standards and standards discussed.

Presidents of eminent Mr. NK, PSU, human resources specialists, bankers and managers of the technology involved in achieving the objectives on strengthening business relationships prospects for the future, including government influence political and understanding the impact of the activity of India in the global economy.

Among the participants are former Ministers of Finance Dr. Manmohan Singh, Rajesh Pilot, MP, Ram Jethmalani, Union Minister for Urban Development, Dr. RA Mashelkar, Director General, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, and Professor Rammohan Rao, director, IIM, Bangalore

In today’s highly competitive corporate world, working professionals are keen to upgrade their skills and qualifications like never before. SP Jain Center of Management, a business school that offers programs of intensive management business, both working for executives as well as full-time students, recently sought applications for its Executive MBA second batch of sixty and was overwhelmed by the response.

SP Jain Center of Management, located at Knowledge Village, Dubai has a legacy of being at the cutting edge of management education. Its parent campus, SP Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR), ranked seventh by Asia Inc, the Singapore based business magazine, and India’s top business school for job placements, has been constantly innovating not just the curriculum and pedagogy but also the imparting methodologies employed in business education. These advances are now available at Dubai’s SP Jain campus for the region’s business management aspirants to benefit from.

Paul Wellings, the vice chancellor of the Lancaster University, United Kingdom was recently in the Capital on a brief visit. During his visit a memorandum-of-understanding was signed between the Lancaster University and Jawaharlal Nehru University for conducting joint research in social sciences, says a press release.

Apart from this, Lancaster University has recently entered into partnerships to offer joint-degree programmes with Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore and collaborative degrees and joint research agreement in life sciences with Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE). In addition, an agreement has been formulated for research cooperation with Lancaster INFOLAB21 and Computer and Communications Research, Institute of Technology, Mumbai.

Management conclave

The GLA Institute of Technology and Management, Mathura recently organised a management conclave `Managing change and transformation in India Inc in global perspective,’ says a press note. The conclave was inaugurated by A Kalanidhi, former vice chancellor, Anna University and advisor, Sterling Infocom Ltd; Alok Aggarwal, executive director, Polar Industries and Ganeshi Lal Aggarwal. The event began with a `Saraswati vandana’, which was followed by the presentation of the conclave theme by Alok Aggarwal, in which he stressed on the need to be fully abreast with the corporate sector and the importance of affordability, acceptability and availability in the same. In a highly motivating lecture, Kalanidhi expressed his simple yet profound ideas, on the occasion. Mementos were presented to distinguished speakers and a cash reward of Rs 10,000 was announced for the MBA topper of the institute.

Accolades for Aptech

Adding yet another feather to its cap, Aptech has been named among `India’s Biggest Newsmakers’ in the second annual Business Today - Cirrus Review of CEOs and Companies that got the best press coverage in 2004, as per a press release.

A global learning organisation, Aptech Ltd is playing a key role in helping individuals, organisations and nations adapt to the changing requirements of a knowledge-driven world. It has acted as a catalyst to change by encouraging the sharing of knowledge through intelligent training and education solutions. Aptech’s recent forays include learning services - e-learning and consultancy, ATTEST - testing and certification and Aptech Higher Education Services.

IMT courses

The Institute of Management and Technology (IMT) Ghaziabad invites applications for courses through the distance-learning mode. The courses are affiliated to the Vidyasagar University, West Bengal. The courses are: Master’s in Business Administration (MBA); Master’s in Human Resource Management (MHRM); Master’s in Marketing Management (MMM) and Master’s in Supply Chain Management (MSCM). The eligibility is a graduation or appearing in the final year.

In addition, it invites applications for one-year specialised diplomas in business administration, marketing management, personnel management, financial management, export management and material management. The eligibility for these courses is a 10+2 with a five-year experience or graduation, or a three-year diploma in engineering from the board of technical education, after a 10+2.

The forms and prospectus are available on payment of Rs 700 in cash. Contact the Advanced Management Institute, 67 (Basement), Hargovind Enclave, Opposite Railway Reservation Centre, Karkardooma, Delhi-92. The deadline is March 6, 2005. E-mail:imtdelhi9@yahoo.com.

Paramedical courses

The Nice Academy of Paramedical Sciences affiliated to Ch Charan Singh University, Meerut, under IDE invites applications for programmes, namely, hospital management; radio imaging technology and medical laboratory technology, wherein, the duration of the degree courses is three years and diploma and certificate course is one-year. In addition, it offers a physiotherapy programme, where the duration for the degree course is four years and diploma and certificate course is a one-year.

Under pressure from local industrialists who fear they are losing out to foreign competition, the Indian government is reviewing a number of free-trade pacts, including those pending with Thailand and Asean.

“Bilateral agreements having divergent standards with different countries may not help India remain competitive in the international market,” said R.V. Kanoria, a international trade expert with the Confederation of Indian Industry, a New Dehli-based trade group.

“Liberalisation of tariffs by the Indian government should be calibrated with internal reforms in labour, infrastructure and agriculture,” he said in an interview with the Bangkok Post.

In October 2003, India signed a signed a limited trade deal with Thailand that came into effect in September 2004. Under the so-called “early-harvest” agreement, which expires in 2008, Indian and Thai firms can freely import and export 82 items. The deal calls for tariffs to be reduced by 50 percent in 2004-05, 75 percent in 2005 and 100 percent in 2006.

Bilateral trade in these 82 items consequently doubled to US$430 million in 2005 from $217 million in 2004, with Thailand recording a trade surplus of $253 million.

The lopsided numbers soured the Indian business community, particularly the automotive components makers, and talks on a more comprehensive deal that would cover thousands of items has since stalled. Recently CII said it was working to modify existing FTAs and implement a new set of industry recommendations for future trade deals, while claiming that multilateral agreements under the World Trade Organisation would benefit the country more than bilateral agreements.

“Toyota, Honda and Procter & Gamble are the three multinational corporations that have benefited the most from the Indo-Thai FTA,” said Sharif D. Rangnekar, an economic analyst and editor of the Indiabiznews.com website.

He added that “these three companies find the logistics of doing business with India rather attractive because they have major manufacturing units in Thailand and find it easy to launch their products in India”.

Indian products, on the other hand, “don’t have a large market in Thailand even if they have the required certification,” Mr Rangnekar said, explaining that this is partly due to the fact that India’s population of 1.1 billion dwarfs that of Thailand.

Criticism of the India-Thai FTA has come from a wide range of sources, including industry groups, independent research think-tanks and columnists. In 2004, the National Council of Applied Economic Research slammed the pact, primarily because of the complicated issue of “rules of origin”. It also questioned if the “early-harvest” agreement is compatible with WTO rules.

Last year, India’s Ministry of Commerce undertook an impact assessment study of the limited trade scheme with Thailand, which analysed trade flows and drew inferences for the future. The Tariff Commission also submitted a similar study to the federal Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion in New Delhi.

The CII committee headed by Mr Kanoria will soon come up with guidelines for the Indian government to consider before negotiating FTAs. These are expected to include guidelines relating to negative list, common floor prices and rules of origin.

A survey by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), one of the largest apex industry associations in India together with the CII, found in 2005 that imports from Thailand rose phenomenally under the limited FTA, while exports from India to Thailand actually declined.

Information Technology (IT) holds the key to kick-starting a revolution in banking, said Radha Unni, chief general manager, State Bank of India, here.

She was inaugurating a national conference on `Braving new frontiers in banking,’ organised by the ICFAI Business School, here.

She called for standardisation across banks and appealed to them to take the services to the doorsteps of the customers for financial inclusion.

Anoop Narayanan, security consultant, First Legion Consulting, said human fraud, incompetence and errors made the implementation of new technologies difficult. He also spoke on information leaks and the cultural factors involved.

Punjab National Bank senior manager Guru Murthy spoke on the implementation of core banking solution. He provided an overview of the technologies used in mid-level interactions, in the back offices and in internal monitoring and reports.

K.A. Joseph, managing director, Kerala Venture Capital, summarised the session on IT in banking by providing an overview of mobile Internet banking. He said that IT should equip bankers to convert future threats into opportunities.

A.K. Basu, general manager, State Bank of Travancore, spoke on private banking. He highlighted the various challenges faced in private banking.

Ommen Jacob, regional sales manager, ICICI Bank, said the challenge before private bankers was to provide their customers with the best service in the industry. He spoke about the four R’s of private banking: reach, relationship, research and resource. It was only by investing in them in favour of customer needs could the banks achieve their goals.

A.V. Anil, branch manager, Kotak Mahindra Bank, focussed on the services provided by private banking and also gave a brief picture of the challenges faced such as high client expectations, higher fixed costs and so on. Padma Kumar, former chairman and managing director of Federal Bank, stressed the need for private banking. He said that as the interest rates had reduced, people did not just invest in banks; they had more options.

Private banking should aim at providing products for wealth management to all sections of society for financial inclusion.

Cherian Varghese, former chairman and managing director, Union Bank of India, spoke on retail banking and the various norms issued by RBI regarding it.

V.P. Roshan, branch head, IDBI Bank, gave an overview of how banks operated, the importance of retail banking.

Darice Paula Grippo, a vice president in the investment-research division of the Putnam Management Company in Boston, was married yesterday to Robert Leonard Wareham, a senior trust officer with the Old Colony Trust division of the First National Bank of Boston. The Rev. David Drew Rose, a United Church minister, performed the nondenominational ceremony at the Houghton Memorial Chapel at Wellesley College.

The bride, who will retain her name professionally, is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Milo Paul Grippo of Orange, Conn. She was graduated from Wellesley College, where she was a Wellesley College Scholar, and the Harvard University Graduate School of Business Administration. Her father, who formerly owned the New London (Conn.) Seaplane Service, is a consultant to the Avco Lycoming Corporation in Stratford, Conn., from which he retired as superintendnent of research and development quality assurance. Her mother was formerly a pilot with Piper Aircraft in Lock Haven, Pa.

Mr. Wareham is a son of Harry Percival Wareham of Chapoquoit Island, West Falmouth, Mass., and the late Mrs. Wareham. He was graduated from the Brooks School in North Andover, Mass., Boston University and the National Graduate Trust School of Northwestern University. His previous marriage ended in divorce. His father is retired and was a manufacturer’s representative in F.N. Burt Company, a packaging concern in Rochester.

The National Academy of Sciences, a private organization established by Congress in 1863 to advise the Federal Government, has elected 60 new members. The election brings the number of active members to 1,683.

The academy also named 15 nonvoting foreign associates, bringing their total to 298.

Election to the academy is considered one of the highest honors that can be accorded an American scientist or engineer. The academy said election recognized “distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.”

Following are the new members and their affiliations at the time of the election. New Members

Yakir Aharonov, professor of physics, Tel Aviv University, Israel, and University of South Carolina, Columbia.

Paul G. Ahlquist, professor, Institute for Molecular Virology and department of plant pathology, University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Bishnu S. Atal, head, speech research department, A.T.& T. Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, N.J.

Bruce S. Baker, professor of biological sciences, Stanford University, Palo Alto, Calif.

Ransom Lee Baldwin Jr., professor of animal science, University of California, Davis.

Denis Baylor, professor and chair of neurobiology, Stanford University.

Malcolm R. Beasley, professor of applied physics and electrical engineering, Stanford University.

Klaus Biemann, professor of chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge.

Claude R. Canizares, professor of physics, head of the astrophysics division and director of the Center for Space Research, M.I.T.

Charles P. Casey, Helfaer Professor of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin.

C. Thomas Caskey, chief of medical genetics; professor of medicine and biochemistry; director, Institute of Molecular Genetics; Henry and Emma Meyer Chair in Molecular Genetics, and investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston.

Duane Laible, Seattle Marine architect, engineer and Business Leader sea snails, died Monday of pancreatic cancer at her home in Hood Canal Hans City. He was 67

“His talents have been true when the merger of science and economy,” said John “Mike” Wallace, a longtime friend and business associate, he is a professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Washington. “He recognized as a well managed company can be a contribution to the advancement of science.”

Laible (pronounced Lie-Blee) graduated in 1962, the Webb Institute of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, a tuition-free facility in Glen Cove, New York

He is a graduate of the management program at the University of Washington’s Graduate School of Business Administration in 1985.

Laible began his career with The Boeing Co. Marine Engineering in Advanced Systems. After several other jobs, he joined Seattle’s Glosten Associates in 1971, as chairman of that company from 1981 to 2000 and as president until his death.

Laible has participated actively in the design of oceanographic research vessels over 35 years and played a key role in the development of Glosten leadership in this area, ladies and gentlemen.

He proceeded to the planning of the first tractor tug Zykloiden training in commercial exploitation in the USA, said Bruce Hutchison, Senior Principal of Glosten, worked closely with Laible. This technology allows a quick change of direction and speed, it is important in close quarter manoeuvring.

Laible, then led the company to the application of technology, tugs built specifically associated with protection against northern Puget Sound Out-of-control-tankers. The propulsion system gives them the ability for applications braking and driving forces vessels for people with disabilities, including high speed.

Even more important than its technical capacity, his leadership was the ability of Hutchison said.

“It leads us through a period of growth, 15 to about 50 employees, and a difficult time in 1985 requires that layoffs, while maintaining the high principles of integrity,” said Hutchison.

“It was a wise people, which I attended, and I think he has the wisdom, only slightly above everything he did.”

In 2003, President Bush appointed Laible the USA Arctic Research Commission. Mead Treadwell president of this organization on the website this week to recall Laible “the essential role shortly after the Exxon Valdez oil spills, to ensure the safe shipment to Prince William Sound.