Tirupati may get new ISB campus soon

Hyderabad: The Indian School of Business (ISB), which was recently ranked among the world's top-20 business schools by the Financial Times, may open its second campus at the temple town of Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh.

Inviting the ISB management team to set up the second campus in Tirupati, Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy has offered to provide full government support and the required infrastructure facilities.

Addressing a function organised by TiE Hyderabad, an organisation of business leaders and entrepreneurs, to felicitate ISB faculty members and staff at the ISB campus here Tuesday night, the chief minister mooted the second campus at Tirupati, which is famous as the town that has India's richest Hindu temple.

Reddy urged ISB dean Rammohan Rao to take up the government's proposal with the board of governors of the ISB. Rammohan Rao, in his response, indicated that the proposal may become a reality.

The dean told the gathering that chairman of the board Rajat Gupta had already been briefed about the proposal and the board would discuss it in its next meeting, scheduled in April. "I hope the decision will be positive," he said.

Former chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, during whose tenure ISB was set up, also attended the felicitation function. He was confident that the prestigious business school would soon be among the world's top five business schools.

TiE, Hyderabad president JA Chowdary congratulated the business school on being ranked among the top 20 business schools by the Financial Times.

"We are extremely proud of this prestigious business school, which not only placed our country in the league of world's best management educators, but also educated students to build a lasting impact on business and society," he said.

The ISB was the first business school from India to get this recognition.Its association with The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, The Kellogg School of Management in the United States, and London Business School in Britain make it one of its kind in Asia.

The Wharton School, the London Business School and the Kellogg School of Management were ranked first, second and 24th respectively, in the list of top 100 business schools by the Financial Times.

Established six years ago, the ISB offers a one-year postgraduate programme, short duration executive education programmes for chief executive officers and senior executives as well as a two-year research fellowship programme.