The world renowned Cranfield School of Management in the UK will present a scholarship to any member of the three leading IFAC accountancy bodies in Sri Lanka, the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), the Institute of Chartered Accountants Sri Lanka (ICASL) or the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants Sri Lanka Branch (CIMA). Full Time MBA Programme Director Sean Rickard who informed Sri Lanka of the scholarship said, “We hope the scholarship attracts candidates who will benefit from this initiative and that, with the help of the accounting bodies in Sri Lanka, it will raise Cranfield’s profile. We are extremely grateful for the support of the institutes in this. We will be reviewing the success of the programme after two years.”

ACCA Sri Lanka’s Immediate Past President, Dilshan Rodrigo, himself an alumni of the Cranfield School of Management extends his best wishes to all candidates and says, “I hope most sincerely that this initiative will signal the birth of a new generation of professional skilled managers who will add value to the corporate boardrooms of Sri Lanka.” Stating that this is truly a world class MBA ranked consistently as one of the top MBAs in Europe, he adds, “This one year full time programme is ideally suited for members in middle and senior management positions with ambitious career goals.” Rodrigo, who has continued to maintain ties with Cranfield, further reinforced the relationship once he became President of ACCA Sri Lanka, sourcing resource speakers for the ACCA National Conferences in the last two years. “Two people who played significant roles in mooting this scholarship from the Cranfield end are the former Director of the MBA Programme Professor Leo Murray who was the Keynote Speaker at our conference in 2006 and has a soft spot for Sri Lankans and Sri Sriskanthan, a Sri Lankan faculty member on the MBA programme.”

Cranfield has produced a distinguished honour roll of MBA alumni from Sri Lanka over the last two decades including Managing Director of Hatton National Bank Rajendra Theagarajah, Senior Vice President of WNS Arul Sivagananathan and Group Financial Controller of Stretchline Hasantha de Silva. Members of ICASL, ACCA and CIMA must apply directly to Cranfield School of Management, for which instructions are available on the Cranfield website ww.som.cranfield.ac.uk/som/mba/, marking the application ‘Sri Lanka Scholarship’.

More : dailymirror.lk

The Mortgage Banker’s Association (MBA) announced earlier this week that Jonathan L. Kemper, current President and CEO, will be stepping down on December 31, 2008. According to the same MBA statement, during Kempner’s seven years with the MBA, the association doubled its revenues and operating reserve fund.

“This has been an extremely intellectually stimulating and rewarding period in my professional life,” said Kempner. “Navigating the highs and lows of the real estate cycles, with a first rate leadership and wonderful membership, afforded me a rare opportunity to contribute to one of the most important industries in our society. I am very proud for the extraordinary staff I have helped assemble at MBA, as my colleagues’ dedication, intelligence, and expertise make a true difference in the overall quality of life for many Americans. MBA’s mission, I am convinced, will be enhanced with new leadership, and on a personal level I very much look forward to a new position of leadership myself after nearly eight wonderful years at MBA.”

Kieran P. Quinn, MBA Chairman of the Board of Directors had this to say of Kempner, “Jonathan has been an exceptional leader for MBA. He has led a major transformation in our operations, and put in place a first rate staff that is widely acknowledged to be one of the most effective in the Washington association world. He has poured his heart and soul into MBA with the highest degree of professionalism, integrity, and devotion to our members, and always with a personal warmth and sense of humor. The entire MBA family will miss him.”

Quinn also announced that John A. Courson, former MBA Chairman, will become their COO effective August 1, and will assume the position of President of MBA, effective January 1, 2009.

Quinn said that, “John Courson brings tremendous industry knowledge, business savvy, and political skills to MBA. John has worked tirelessly on behalf of our industry for more than 40 years. He has been an advocate ensuring safe and affordable housing for all Americans and for simplifying the mortgage process. We are lucky to have John join MBA and steer our association to represent the real estate finance industry as we continue to build America’s communities.”

Courson, who currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the California Housing Finance Agency, served as Chairman of MBA in 2003 and as a member of MBA’s Board of Directors, the Residential Board of Governors (RESBOG) and the Commercial Real Estate/Multifamily Finance Board of Governors (COMBOG).]

More : dsnews.com

Would-be MBA students getting ready to take the GMAT might be in for a little surprise when they show up at the testing center. In addition to all the usual security measures—including video monitoring and the computer adaptive test itself—test takers will soon be asked to submit to a new one: a biometric device that uses an infared light to capture the test-taker’s unique “palm vein pattern.”

Pearson VUE, the company that administers the GMAT for the Graduate Management Admission Council, plans to announce the new security effort tomorrow, but BusinessWeek got a sneak peak at it today.

The Fujitsu “PalmSecure” device will be rolled out next month at 16 testing centers in India and Korea for GMAT candidates. It goes live in the U.S. this fall, and when fully deployed will be used in 400 facilities in 107 countries by May 2009.

The announcement comes as the b-school world is embroiled in a cheating scandal involving the GMAT–users of a now-defunct test prep Web site, Scoretop.com, have been accused by GMAC of using it to post and access live test questions, and GMAC has said it will cancel the test scores of anyone who violated its rules.

But the new security measure is designed to stop a different kind of cheating–the use of professional test takers, or proxies, to take the exam on behalf of someone else. GMAC’s been burned by this type of cheater before. Back in 2003, it busted a half dozen people who took the GMAT for others for about $5,000 a pop. GMAC canceled 166 scores as a result, and five of the six imposters ended up at Rikers.

More : businessweek.com

Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow today announced its fourth six months General Management Programme for Defence officers. This 24 weeks General Management Programme is the fourth in a series of such programmes being organized for Defence officers, and the first at NOIDA campus. The programme is open to both short service commission officers and others. The programme was inaugurated today at the NOIDA campus by the Major General, SG Chatterji, VSM, Director General, Resettlement.

The response to the first three programmes conducted by IIML was a huge success with all 49 officers of the first programme and 60 of the second getting good job offers. The third batch, which is undergoing placements right now, is also witnessing a slew of great offers. This year after applying the selection criteria 59 Defence Officers from all three branches of the Armed forces have been selected for the programme. Out of the 59 Officers, 7 candidates are Lady Officers.

“Management education to defence personnel contributes to providing defence officers a second career choice after retirement. But the larger role in the national interest is to prepare a disciplined and responsible citizen to play important roles in today’s competitive business scenario” say Prof. NK Gupta & Prof. SC Bansal, Program Directors.

The Indian Armed Forces carefully selects Officers and continuously trains them in the art, science and craft of WINNING. Every year, hundreds of these Officers retire, with rich experience in learning, critical reasoning, objective decision making, creative thinking, leading and motivating people, running organisations and managing projects. The aim of the programme is to capitalize on these skills of the officers and optimize them to suit the corporate world’s requirements.

As in the past, the fourth programme is also expected to generate an enthusiastic response from the corporate world and given the intense nature of the programme it is sure to equip the participants with the necessary skill set so very essential to conquer the corporate world.

The objective of the GMP is to provide the participants with a basic understanding of the managerial systems and processes. The programme has been designed to provide the defence officers with basic functional inputs in subjects such as accounting and finance, decision sciences, organizational behavior, human resources management, communication skills, marketing, strategy, information technology and business environment.

The idea is to familiarize the officers with the requisite analytical tools and techniques; and develop a holistic perspective and global mindset to understand issues of an enterprise.

Source : prurgent.com

Suryadatta Institution, Pune offers MBA courses to graduates, and professionals. Fresh graduates can pursue MBA through Suryadatta admission test (SAT).

Suryadatta Institute of Business Management and Technology (SIBMT) offers two years full time PGDM in Retail + FMCG, Telecom + IT and Services + IT Enabled Services.

Suryadatta Institute Of Management and Mass Communication (SIMMC), offers two years full time PGDM in Marketing + International Business (IB), Human Resource + International Business (IB), Finance + Marketing, Marketing + Information Technology (IT), International Business + Information Technology (IT).

Suryadatta Education Foundation’s Suryadatta institutes are offering management education since 2000. The contemporary education backed by industry training and overall development is the key factor of Suryadatta students who are trained in simulated environment and fine-tuned in accordance to the requirements of present corporate world, says a press note.

More : navhindtimes.com

A unique opportunity for higher education aiming to prepare future leaders of the community is coming to Pickaway County this fall.

Berger Hospital is teaming up with Ohio University in Athens to offer OU’s professional Master of Business Administration in Circleville.

“We’re constantly meeting to talk about what we might do to expand educational opportunities for the community,” Berger President Tim Colburn said. “Why an MBA program? Because health care is a business, and we need to make sure we’re building and developing future leaders.”

Berger already has a partnership with OU at its Chillicothe branch to train nurses in Circleville, and Colburn said the success of that program gave Berger an inroad for more educational offerings locally.

The program, which takes about 22 months to complete, consists of one evening a week of classroom activities held via video conference with instructors in Athens and a weekend course once every six weeks on the Athens campus.

OU has been offering the professional MBA through outreach programs for the last five years, according to Dr. Ed Yost, OU’s director of executive graduate education and development, and he said it’s been very successful preparing students for the business world.

“This program is aimed at working professionals to complete an MBA in a non-full time environment,” Yost said. “It’s designed for people that who maybe don’t have a business degree to give people a background to turn into a managerial career step.”

Yost said the course is delivered with more group projects rather than class work, and that was part of the appeal for Berger, according to Suzanne Welker, Berger’s human resources director.

“We’re excited about the synergy the group will have and think the teamwork will benefit the hospital and community,” Welker said. “Business management develops over time and we want to maximize skill development.”

Students in the program will learn about analytical decision making, which focuses on making good business decisions and professional development, including managing people and resources, teamwork and leadership, according to Yost.

He said the course also gives professionals the opportunity to meet people in other businesses and build on local networks.

More : circlevilleherald.1upmonitor.com

You don’t have to have an MBA to know the value of basic business skills. Just ask Greg Shaw, 22, and the 54 other recent graduates of the Carolina Business Institute at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

These new biologists, psychologists and arts majors added the business course to their resumes before stepping out into the real world. Many think it will give them a competitive edge in the workplace. Some think such skills are necessary if they want to one day run their own businesses. And others want the confidence of knowing how to manage personal finances.

UNC’s Friday Center has offered a 4-week business boot camp to non-business students for 16 years. The intense course covers basic business practices including marketing, accounting, finance and operations management.

Its latest class graduated in June.

Among them was Shaw, who received a bachelor’s degree in biology at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Shaw said that in addition to helping with his personal budget, the class gave him the skills to one day manage his own medical practice. “Running a clinic is a business,” he said. “You have to know what to pay people and how to buy equipment and machines.”

Other schools across the nation offer similar programs, including the Tuck Business Bridge program at Dartmouth College and the Summer Institute for General Management at Stanford University.

At North Carolina State University, nonbusiness students are offered four business minors, in accounting, business administration, economics and entrepreneurship, said Steve Barr, a professor who heads the department of management, innovation and entrepreneurship.

In the past, students took such classes mainly to bolster their resumes. But the curriculums have been enhanced to help with a variety of business practices, and students are gleaning practical use from such programs.

Will Aldridge, 28, a UNC psychology graduate who completed the institute in 2006, said the courses give him a competitive advantage in the workplace.

Aldridge was working as an intern at a workplace consulting firm in Atlanta when a client needed advice about the benefits of Six Sigma. It’s a management program that identifies and replaces the causes of defects and errors in manufacturing and business processes.

“I told them, ‘Hey, I just had a class on that,’ ” Aldridge said. His boss was not familiar with Six Sigma, so Aldridge used what he had learned to help the client.

More : courant.com

You don’t have to have an MBA to know the value of basic business skills. Just ask Greg Shaw, 22, and the 54 other recent graduates of the Carolina Business Institute at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

These new biologists, psychologists and arts majors added the business course to their resumes before stepping out into the real world. Many think it will give them a competitive edge in the workplace. Some think such skills are necessary if they want to one day run their own businesses. And others want the confidence of knowing how to manage personal finances.

UNC’s Friday Center has offered a 41/2-week business boot camp to non-business students for 16 years. The intense course covers basic business practices including marketing, accounting, finance and operations management.

More : sentinelsource.com

The QS World MBA Tour, the world’s leading series of career and education events, will organize a one-day fair for aspiring MBAs in the capital tomorrow.

The MBA fair will be held at the Hyatt Regency (Ring Road) in New Delhi tomorrow between 2 pm and 6 pm.

More than 30 B-Schools from across the globe including Toronto -Rotman, IE Business School, Bond, Cornell-Nanyang, Ashridge Business School, Hult, U21 Global, Durham and ESMT will participate in the MBA fair.

The London School of Business & Finance, the only UK based institution to offer dual programmes combining an internationally recognised MBA or MIB with ACCA, CIM, CIMA or CFA qualifications, will also be a part of the MBA fair.

Participants of the QS World MBA Tour, which will visit 50 cities in 32 countries this year, include 17 of the top 20 US business schools and all of the leading European business schools.

The fair will provide students a chance to interact with the leading international business schools and short-list the best option available to them.

Nunzio Quacquarelli, Managing Director of QS told NNE, “It is the perfect chance to make an impression face-to-face with the very people reading your application forms, and that is invaluable to gain an edge in this tough field. The QS World MBA Tour provides the best step in the application process, the opportunity to ask intelligent, tailored questions on topics like personal fit, career opportunities, school specializations and financial aid.”

More : indiaedunews.net

Mr. Jain discussed with a select group of business leaders and members of the Indian Business & Professional Council on the theme “The Future of Marketing.”

Regarding its acceptance to the conference at the invitation of the SPJCM, M. Jain said: “In the current momentum and grow rapidly world of management training, SP Jain distinction has rarely achieved by the development and implementation of some of the most prestigious, industry focuses MBA programs in this region. I welcome the opportunity for an institution as prestigious. ”

The introduction by Dr. Dipak Jain, President of SPJCM, Nitish Jain, said: “Mr Dipak Jain is a giant in the global landscape management and training We feel honored, he accepted that his unique vision, ideas and knowledge in the field of marketing. ”

The problem with the collection of Dr. Jain has maintained an excellent exhibition that the public spell-bound sales on future challenges for companies and how they can be treated; Client - centric marketing to attract and retain customers and employees is the only way in which organizations can sustain and grow in the future