Developing links with the Indian Institute of Plantation Management

04 Apr 2019

David Bozward and Jonathan Brunyee (School of Business and Entrepreneurship) are working to develop a new initiative with the Indian Institute of Plantation Management (IIPM) based in Bangalore. A Memorandum of Understanding was agreed and signed off in December, and David visited Bangalore in March to meet with academic and RAU alumni.

Dr John Mano Raj and Dr Vijaya Kumar, lead IIPM academics, recently visited the RAU to meet the team and to develop programme details.

We plan to twin the IIPM 2 year Postgraduate Diploma in Management in Agribusiness and Plantation Management with our MSc in Business Management. Selected IIPM students will complete the first year of the programme in Bangalore before spending 6-12 months in Cirencester completing our programme. Successful students will receive PG awards from both parties.

In addition, we are looking at building the experiential element of the programme and developing research links. We are also scoping out an industry-focused knowledge exchange event for UK and Indian stakeholders in the tea, coffee, rubber and spice supply chain.

Jonathan Brunyee, MSc Programme Manager, says "IIPM is a small yet impressive organisation in a growing market that fits well with our own ambition. Their mission is to generate leading-edge knowledge and world-class leaders in the agribusiness sector. They also run a number of excellent bottom-up initiatives working with entrepreneurial farmers and processors. This is an exciting initiative that should yield around 12 PG students a year from 2020."