IIM Kolkata, IIT Kanpur join hands with Japanese govt

Kolkata: Three of the country's premier institutes - IIM Kolkata, IIT Kanpur and IIT Madras have joined hands with the Japanese government to launch a training programme for the manufacturing sector executives.

Forty-year old Ajay Dhar tells he is getting used to classroom environment after a gap of almost two decades. Because that's the time he spent working with Maruti Udyog as a manager. Dhar quit his job to enroll for the one-year post graduate program for executives for Visionary Leadership in Manufacturing or VLM, which is being held at IIM Calcutta with assistance from the Japan Government.

"I felt that there was some gap between what the industry was expecting from us and what we were delivering over there. So now, in this scenario of globalization the competitiveness has to go up,” says Dhar, a student of the VLM program.

The course was promised by Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during his recent visit to Kolkata and it has already taken off. The program is jointly designed by IIM Calcutta, IIT Kanpur and IIT Madras and the effort is the first of its kind in the country. And Japanese experts, who are teaching Indian students, do know why they are here.

"Strength of Indian students is doing all the talking,” said Professor Shoji Shiba visiting faculty, VLM Program.

Though it holds the key to employment generation and strengthening exports, India's manufacturing sector has registered low growth rates in the past two decades. And change leaders for the Indian manufacturing industry is the need of the hour in a competitive global market. IIM Calcutta authorities say this pilot program is only the first step to achieve that.

Students who have enrolled in this program have already earned the distinction of being effective managers. They are now striving to become visionary leaders in the manufacturing sector. That's an urgent requirement, which three of the country's premier institutes have set out to fulfill with assistance from the Japanese.

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#IIM kolkata #IIT Kanpur #Japan PM #Shizo Abe