IIT-Madras partners with National Defence College to offer Executive MBA program

Chennai: Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) has partnered with the National Defence College (NDC) to offer an Executive MBA program in Strategic Leadership and Public Policy’ for officers from India’s Armed Forces and friendly countries.

The user-oriented program, which includes lecture-based courses and practical modules including a thesis, will last for 48 weeks. The program is aimed at the intellectual development and strategic enculturation of selected senior officers of the armed forces of India and friendly foreign countries, along with civilian government services of India for higher leadership positions.

A MoU towards this program was signed by Prof. M. Thenmozhi, Professor and Head, Department of Management Studies, IIT-M and Brigadier Rajesh Raman, Secretary, National Defence College recently in the presence of IIT-M Director Prof V Kamakoti.

“The next-gen world needs managers with a deep understanding of contemporary technologies. This MBA programme is conceived to address this need,” Prof Kamakoti said.

Faculty members from the Department of Management Studies and Aerospace and other departments at IIT Madras, faculty from NDC and subject matter experts will teach the programme at the National Defence College.

The programme will have 120 members drawn from the Indian Armed Forces, Indian Civil Services, Indian Police Services and other organs of the Government and they will be selected after a rigorous screening process.

While the Service Officers eligible for this program would normally be Brigadier or equivalent, the Civil and Diplomatic service officers are at the level of Director/Joint Secretary to the Government of India.

The main purpose of this MoU is to integrate technology-based leadership and policy issues in the curriculum and develop future leaders with knowledge of AI, Cybersecurity and emerging technology applications in strategic decisions, the IIT-M said.