Great Lakes Institute of Management is introducing a course in technopreneurship in association with the Illinois Institute of Technology’s Stuart School of Business, Chicago.
Announcing the tie-up, Dr Bala V. Balachandran, Founder Dean of Great Lakes, said that with the internet of things and digital advancements in the entrepreneurship space, new programmes such as these will have the edge today. Technopreneurship is a new term used to describe the fast-growing field of tech entrepreneurship — creating and growing start-ups and entrepreneurial initiatives in a high-tech space.
Twin programme
Dr John FO Bilson, Dean of IIT’s Stuart School of Business, said the course has been specially designed for Great Lakes students. The students will receive an MBA from the Stuart School.
Prior to undertaking the course, the students will do a one-and-a-half month certificate course in the Great Lakes campus. Participants will spend four weekends, spread over September to December on campus in Chennai and six to eight weeks (May-June) in Chicago to attend classes, undertake industrial visits and meet with VCs, entrepreneurs and start-up gurus. The Deans of both schools signed a formal MoU at the Great Lakes campus.
Course design
The course will cost ₹18.5 lakh for students. This, Dean Bilson pointed out, is at a discount to the courses it offers on campus at Stuart School. Bilson said the school has invested a great deal of time and thought in designing the online course, apart from the face-to-face sessions, and students too will be assessed online. Students also have the option to register at IIT Chicago, to obtain a full-fledged AASCB-accredited MBA degree in technopreneurship for senior-level executives.
Established in 1969, the Stuart School has grown to be the sixth largest business school in the US. The event was hosted by N Sankar, Chairman, of the Sanmar group, who graduated from IIT Chicago in 1967. Present on the occasion too were Vijay Sankar, Deputy Chairman, Sanmar, and a student of Prof Bala earlier at the Kellogg School of Management; Chicago, Vaidy Jayaraman, Associate Dean, Great Lakes; Dr Michael Gosz, VP of enrolment at IIT; and April Welch, Associate Vice-Provost of strategic affairs, IIT.