Strathclyde SKIL Business School (SSBS) students enjoy the best of both educational worlds

With a campus ranging from the Indian sub-continent to Glasgow,Scotland students at the Strathclyde SKIL Business School truly experience the best of both worlds.Fifty per cent of the SSBS faculty will be from Strathclyde Business School (SBS) as part of the faculty exchange and, at the start of their second year, SSBS students will spend a term at Strathclyde University’s Business School in Glasgow, Scotland providing them with cross-culture experience along with global exposure while studying with large number of nationalities (there are more that 100 nationalities studying at Strathclyde).

As Dean Bhimaraya Metri said “The long-term partnership between the University of Strathclyde and SKIL is underpinned by the University of Strathclyde’s academic heritage and business acumen, in combination with the thirst for knowledge in India’s booming new economy”. The combination of skills and expertise in Scotland and India gives the partnership a platform to provide excellent education that is wholly relevant to India’s global economic role.”Equal to the top business schools in the world, the focus of Strathclyde Business School’s faculty and research centers on how theory relates to practice and how practice helps to develop theory- the departments are regularly recognized for their contributions to teaching and research.

In reality, SSBS’s campus is global. A student in Noida can chat with someone sitting in Switzerland or the United States and get their views and opinions on the various aspects of management with the online platforms used by Strathclyde: Myplace, Pegasus, Mpegasus, Spider, Mercury, and Nemo. And through the university’s Business Information System (BIS) students have updated information resources at their fingertips, along with personal, informal advice from the BIS team.But not only will SSBS students benefit from the teaching, cross-cultural experience and cutting-edge facilities Strathclyde and Strathclyde Skil have to offer, they will also benefit from their shared international accreditation.

Strathclyde is among the top 20 business schools in Europe and is among only 55 worldwide to have the triple accreditations from Association of MBAs (AMBA), Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) and European Quality Improvement System (EQUIS). Scotland’s Education Secretary Michael Russell said in a visit to the SSBS Greater Noida campus “Scottish universities are renowned across the world for the quality of their learning, teaching and research, and Strathclyde is amongst our best.”SSBS is not merely a transplant of the Scottish institute into India but has been specifically developed to suit both Scotland and India, he said, noting “It is innovative and I am very much in favour of innovation.”

SSBS:Prof. Colin Eden and Prof. Bhimaraya Metri of Strathclyde SKIL Business School (SSBS) agree on how accreditation out-ranks rankings

International accreditation, not ranking, is the hallmark of a top business school in today’s global market - and Strathclyde SKIL Business School (SSBS) as a part of University of Strathclyde Business School (SBS) enjoy the status of three such accreditations, putting it in a very select group.

SBS is accredited by the European Quality Improvement System (EQUIS), the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) and the Association of MBAs (AMBA), which Prof. Bhimaraya Metri noted in a Times of India article “are three of the most highly regarded international accreditations in the realm of higher business education.”

EQUIS focuses on school diversity and relationships with the business world, AACSB puts emphasis on how a school uses its resources to bring it up to a top level and AMBA concentrates on the quality and relevance of programs.

“Worldwide less than five per cent of B-schools are accredited by AACSB,” said Prof. Metri, “1.05 per cent of B-schools are accredited by EQUIS and 1.5 per cent of B-schools are accredited by AMBA. Only less than one per cent of business schools (55 B-schools) in the world hold ‘triple accreditations’ from EQUIS, AACSB and AMBA.”

Prof. Colin Eden, Vice-Dean and Director of the International Division of Strathclyde University says students must give more weight to accreditations compared to rankings, pointing out: “Rankings are very volatile. A university one year can be ranked 50, the next year it can get ranked 80, or vice-versa. Things cannot change that rapidly in the academic world.”

Accreditations are really difficult to come by, says Prof. Eden, requiring lots of paperwork and documentation, followed by visits from a panel of three Deans from across the globe who meet with staff, students, alumni and employers to determine the quality of education being given to students.

But such accreditations assure both students and the corporate world their education was obtained at a school of international acclaim - one that teaches the skills employers require.

SSBS- Five-day induction program kicks off Strathclyde Skil Business School year

A five-day session from September 19-23 introduced the first program to be offered from the Strathclyde Skil Business School (SSBS) campus in Greater Nodia - the Masters in Management (MiM).

As Prof. Bhimaraya Metri, Dean, SSBS has said: “This two-year Masters builds on Strathclyde's long established excellence in research and teaching.

“Students will be awarded a degree by the University of Strathclyde – a UK institution – one of Europe’s top 20 business schools”

“The MiM provides students with an all-round foundation that prepares them for the world of management,” said Prof. Metri.

“MiM is a two-year degree programme in which students will visit Strathclyde for one semester and will do an extended internship with an Indian company where they can employ their theoretical knowledge to a practical situation,” he said.

“The company-based project will provide an invaluable opportunity of applying the knowledge gained from full-time studying to a concrete business setting. This high-quality mix of theory and practice makes our programme a unique learning experience, ideal preparation for managing in today’s challenging business environment.”

According to Prof. Taylor, the induction program was an invigorating and hugely successful learning event.

“The students very quickly grasped the distinctive orientation of the MiM; for example the relationship of theoretical learning to practical application, the importance of becoming a reflective practitioner,” he said. “Students were also hugely enthusiastic about the innovative and group-based methods of learning which they had not encountered before. The emphasis in this program of studying on active learning was greatly welcomed.”

The five-day induction program got underway with high tea, followed by welcoming addresses by: Prof. B. Metri, Dean of the school;  Prof. Taylor, Academic Director, MiM Prorgamme; Ms Simrat Joshi, Chief Operating Officer, SSBS and Dr. Sanjeev Verma, Chairperson, MiM Prorgamme at SSBS.

This in turn was followed by a presentation about Strathclyde SKIL Business School by Prof. Taylor and a question and answer session for students, along with an address via Skype by Prof. Susan |Hart, dean of the Strathclyde Business School in Glasgow.

The first day of the program wound up with a session covering the library and e-resources facilities, conducted by Prof. Taylor and one on developing the culture of entrepreneurship by Manoj Uthup.

Over the course of the next four days there were presentations on: The Navco Case Study - Decision Making in the Company of Today by Prof. Taylor, Prof. Metri and Dr. Sanjeev Verma; reading research and report writing (Prof. Taylor and Dr. Verma); how to become a corporate leader (Sanjay Goyal, vice-president of Ericsson and Prof. Metri) and case teaching and case analysis (Dr. Verma).

And students were clearly impressed, with one calling the SSBS program “a refreshing sight to the Indian education sector as it not only provides high quality education but also imports real time business concepts and rich cultural experience to India.”

“We as students clearly inferred that this B-school will go a long way in the Indian history.”

The Strathclyde SKIL Business School (SSBS), is affiliated with Strathclyde Business School (SBS), Scotland, (one of Europe’s top 20 business schools) which shares its seal of approval from: AMBA (Association of MBAs) UK; AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) the U.S.A.’s best known accreditation body and EQUIS (the European Quality Improvement System) Europe.