Thursday, July 30, 2009

XLRI logs in for farm crash course - Six-month online certificate programme being launched in association with Hyderabad-based Ikisan

From The Telegraph

Jamshedpur, July 28: After business management courses, XLRI is ready to enter the field of online agriculture.

The premier B-school is collaborating with Hyderabad-based Ikisan, a web agriculture portal promoted by Nagarjuna Group, to run a six-month online certificate programme in agri-business management.

The objective of the course, which will be launched in Hyderabad tomorrow, is to prepare graduates and postgraduates for marketing and sales roles in the agriculture sector.

“Not core agriculture studies but agriculture management is what we are offering to students. XLRI has successfully formulated the programme, which will be yet another way of online learning for those interested in the marketing, management and agriculture. This venture was in the XLRI’s agenda for quite sometime,” said P. Venugopal, dean (academics) of XLRI, who is in Hyderabad to launch the course.

The agri-business management will be on an online self-learning course. Registered students can download study material from the Ikisan website. However, students will be free to interact with the XLRI faculty through e-mails or other means. Students will have to avail online tests on the Ikisan website.

XLRI will also organise industrial visits for more exposure.

Students who are pursuing their final-year bachelors or masters degree in agriculture or are in allied sectors will be eligible for the programme. Freshers would need to have at least two years experience in agri-business for being eligible to apply.

Registrations will be open twice during an academic year — in August and January. The course fee will be Rs 45,000 per student.

“We are trying to run the programme for about 100 students. The special feature of the programme is stress on self-learning but students can also call up the faculty for clarifications,” said Venugopal.

Among other institutes that offer such programmes are the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, and Institute of Rural Management, Anand. IIMA conducts a postgraduate agro-business management programme that prepares students for a career in enterprises related to agriculture and allied sectors. IRMA also offers a two-year postgraduate programme in rural management, divided into classroom studies, fieldwork, organisational and management traineeship.

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