Deakin University and Indian School of Business to collaborate for joint research and teaching

Deakin University and the Indian School of Business (ISB) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for collaboration in the areas of research, teaching, student exchange programs, internationalising the curriculum and development of innovative approaches to meeting international accreditation standards, among others.

Professor Mike Ewing, Dean of Deakin Business School, and Professor Sridhar Seshadri, Senior Associate Dean, Faulty and Research, ISB signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the ISB campus to operationalise the collaboration.

The MoU has been signed for an initial period of three years starting 21 October 2015.  As a part of the agreement, both partners would endeavour to conduct joint research, teaching and engagement in areas of common interest, including the provision of opportunities for further internationalising the curricula of business programs offered by ISB and Deakin Business School (DBS).

Speaking on the occasion, Professor Ewing said: “We are absolutely delighted to being taking this next, logical step in further cementing a long-term, mutually rewarding partnership with our friends and colleagues at ISB.  Faculty have visited each other’s institutions on a few occasions already and we recently successfully piloted a joint, synchronous case study – whereby ISB and DBS students analysed the same case-study in real-time. This is an innovative approach to enable authentic cross-cultural interaction for geographically dispersed students.  We will continue to innovate, push boundaries and look for synergies in the partnership.”

Sharing ISB’s opinion on the partnership, Professor Sridhar Seshadri said: “ISB has been at the forefront of innovative, high-quality research and has been acknowledged as one of the most research productive Indian management institutions globally. We are happy to collaborate with Deakin University, as this is a great opportunity for us to expand the frontiers of research globally with a like minded partner.”

Under the Teaching and Learning activities, the partners have already begun to engage in academic collaboration including exchange of resource material that are of mutual interest and assessment of units for credit for prior learning for academic programs offered at each institution.  Other activities include student mobility programs, staff exchange programs and special short-term academic programs of mutual benefit to both institutions.

The research engagements provides exciting collaborative opportunities, and opportunities for the joint supervision of doctoral students, exist across the breadth of the DBS discipline areas under the Deakin India Research Initiative (DIRI).  Through DIRI, a one of its kind initiative, Deakin provides a full tuition fee waiver of approximately valued at $90,000 (Australian) and an in-country stipend paid to the student by the Indian partner. 

The partnership will be coordinated through Deakin University’s South Asia office based in New Delhi.  Deakin was one of the very first international education providers to set up operations in India in 1994. The Deakin India office facilitates activities for the University wide activities in the South Asia region including recruitment, business development, partnerships, research collaboration and mobility programs for students and staff.

Over the years, ISB has created the right eco system that generates high-quality research which is both contemporary and rigorous. The school’s industry and academic associations, and an opportunity to work in the fast growing economies attract faculty and research fellows of international repute to the school Its faculty have published their research in internationally top ranked, peer reviewed journals in every area of management and played a leading role in increasing the research output from India over the last few years. ISB is among the few schools in the world that undertakes research with a focus on emerging and transition economies, striving to create synergies between India, Asia, and the global business environment

Deakin is renowned for developing award-winning partnerships with industry, governments, communities, professional associations and other education providers. Over the years the University has developed active partnerships with 50 plus key companies and Institutions across India.