BANGALORE, MARCH 14. The Bangalore-based IFIM Business School (estb.1995) became the sixth B-school in India to receive the prestigious Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) accreditation. The other five: IIM-Calcutta, Indian School of Business (Hyderabad), Institute of Management Technology (Ghaziabad), T.A. Pai Management Institute (Manipal) and XLRI (Jamshedpur).

“IFIM Business School’s commitment to ensuring quality education delivery has resulted in their earning AACSB accreditation. I congratulate the institute for its well-deserved certification. It’s an indicator that IFIM offers leading-edge courses and programmes that businesses world over are looking for,” said Amy Memon, manager, the US-based AACSB, speaking on the occasion. 

Added Dr. Githa S. Hegde, director of IFIM Business School: “The AACSB accreditation has strengthened our resolve to make IFIM the premier business and management education institution of India and beyond.” 

 

Babilou acquires AEE

BANGALORE, MARCH 15.Babilou Group, Europe’s largest early childhood care and education (ECCE) group, announced its acquisition of a majority stake in Amelio Early Education (AEE), a Chennai-based chain of pre-primary schools. 

Founded in 2003 by Rodolphe and Edouard Carle, the Paris-based Babilou represents a network of more than 500 ECCE centres in eight countries including Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and the UAE. AEE, promoted in 2008 by Harvard Business School alumna Sridevi Raghavan, comprises 14 centres, 220 employees and provides ECCE services to 1,200 households. 

“For Babilou, this partnership is a new opportunity to transmit our savoir-faire while enriching ourselves with new educational practices. We are very impressed by AEE’s high-quality ECCE programmes and teams, and are very excited about our plans for India,” says Rodolphe Carle, co-founder of Babilou Group, in a press statement.
Adds Sridevi Raghavan: “This partnership helps validate our long-standing commitment to providing high-quality ECCE to the Indian market. We will use the knowledge and scale of Babilou’s international experience to expand the market and enhance our offerings.”

 

J & J Institute on Wheels

NEW DELHI, MARCH 22. Johnson & Johnson Medical India announced the launch of its state-of-the-art Johnson & Johnson Institute on Wheels. This is a mobile training centre designed to build the surgical skills of doctors, nurses, and para-medical staff to supplement the country’s healthcare delivery system and ensure better outcomes. The mobile surgical training centre was flagged off by Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union minister of science & technology. 

J & J’s mobile training centre will travel to medical colleges and teaching hospitals across the country to provide training inputs to budding and practising surgeons and paramedical staff on specialities including general, laparoscopic and gastrointestinal surgery, cardiothoracic surgery, orthopaedic procedures, neurology, gynaecology, colorectal, head and neck, paediatric, urology, infection prevention and operation theatre management services. 

“At J & J Medical, we are committed to supporting the government’s Skill India programme through the delivery of educational programmes to healthcare professionals for improving the standards of medical care in this country,” said Sushobhan Dasgupta, managing director, Johnson & Johnson Medical India and vice president, J & J Orthopaedics. “With the launch of the Johnson & Johnson Institute on Wheels, we hope to provide supplementary training to 25,000 surgeons across 400 towns during the next five years.”

Over the past 25 years, J & J has aided over 250,000 healthcare practitioners including doctors, nurses and healthcare technicians through the company’s three Johnson & Johnson Institutes located in Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai. 
 

Vodafone’s Future Jobs Finder

DELHI, MARCH 20. Vodafone India, a subsidiary of Vodafone Plc, UK, announced the launch of its ground- breaking ‘What will you be?’ international jobs programme. The company will provide career guidance and access to digital economy training content to 5 million youth in India and 10 million young people in 18 countries by 2022. This digital skills and jobs initiative is the largest of its kind worldwide, according to a Vodafone India spokesperson.

For this purpose, Vodafone has developed Future Jobs Finder — a new online platform accessible by all youth for career guidance, training programmes and finding meaningful jobs in the emerging global digital economy. Future Jobs Finder comprises quick psychometric tests designed to identify every individual’s aptitudes and interests, and maps these profiles to the most appropriate job category in the digital economy. In the second step, customers are directed to specific job opportunities in their chosen locations. Users can also access online digital skills training programmes. 

“Over time, every workplace will go digital creating new roles and accelerating the demand for a wide range of specialist technology skills relevant to the digital economy. With this programme, we want to prepare 5 million young people across India to be future fit for workplaces of the new world,” said Sunil Sood, managing director and CEO of Vodafone India.