Plan to launch MBA in Energy Management

[sajiv]

Plan to launch MBA in Energy Management

CHENNAI: The Great Lakes Institute of Management (GLIM) plans to launch an executive MBA programme in Energy Management in association with University of Houston early next year. It is also in talks to develop a programme in Energy Technology Management, aimed at technology professionals rather than management executives, and focussed on clean sources of energy – from clean coal and hydel, to solar, tidal and nuclear power.

The Energy Technology Management programme is being developed in association with the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR), Kalpakkam; the Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy, Bangalore; and an American university. GLIM founder Bala V. Balachandran signed a Memorandum of Understanding with IGCAR director Baldev Raj on Monday.

The MBA programme, which has been in the planning stages with the University of Houston's C.T. Bauer College of Business for some time now, will be launched some time between February and April 2010. Prof. Balachandran said that he is in talks with the Union Ministry of Petroleum, which has expressed interest in this programme, saying it is of national importance. He hopes to persuade the Union Minister to chair the programme's advisory council.

The Chief Financial Officer of multinational oil major Shell has promised to teach an advanced course during the programme, while other lecturers include executives from ONGC, IOC, Reliance as well as some input from renewable energy firms.

"Energy management is such a wide spectrum that it can only be done through synergy, not by any single institution," said Dr. Baldev Raj. "The science and technology basis for energy decisions must be sound and accurate, but the monetary and financial implications are also important," he said. He pointed out that with India set to be a trillion-dollar energy market within 20 years, the world's top energy businesses and scientists would be willing to work here.

GLIM and IGCAR have also agreed to work together in their neighbourhood – they are both situated just off the East Coast Road near Mahabalipuram. "We must create a 15-km-by-15-km stretch of space which is a model for the rest of the country in terms of water, hygiene, healthcare, communications and quality of life," said Dr. Baldev Raj.