Oxford’s short courses to roll out in Lavasa

The University of Oxford, one of the most soughtafter academic institutions in the world, is all set to roll out its first set of courses in the country in 2010. The varsity will introduce short-term management courses for middle and senior-level executives at Lavasa , an hour-and-a-half drive away from Pune. The courses, which start in June 2010, will be a crucial step for the university. “We will first assess the courses once they begin here, and progress further when they have succeeded,” John Hood, the university’s vice-chancellor, said during a visit to Lavasa city . The courses to be offered will be full-time programmes of a few weeks’ duration. “We are looking at introducing 20 courses with a target of 5,000 students within the next five years,” informed Rajgopal Nogja, president of Lavasa Corporation Ltd. The India Business Centre at the University of Oxford, where various Indian business models are researched and taught, will contribute considerably to the design of these courses. “Parts of this research will be included in the curricula of the short-term courses that we are introducing here in India,” Hood said. However, there are no plans of starting the fullfledged graduate and postgraduate courses that the university is best known for on these shores. “That’s because we will be not be able to replicate the unique teaching model which is a part of the collegiate atmosphere that is unique to Oxford,” Hood stated. Elaborating on the teaching methodology, Hood pointed out, “One-on-one attention is paid to students. This facilitates them to rub shoulders with each other and scholars at a highly intellectual level. Therefore, we would not like to replicate this collegiate model anywhere else in the world,” Hood said. “We have 5,000 scholars who collaborate regularly in all subjects taught at the university. This is how we have been able to grow educationally,” Hood noted.