Travelling Soldier

This week Harvard Business School has announced that Jay Light as the new Dean for the School.Now,Johnson School:Cornell University is on search for its new Dean as Mr.Robert Swieringa is stepping down after completing his second 5yr term in June 2007.

Johnson is one of the top business schools which has joined in th Dean-Hunt.Earlier Marshall school was looking for new dean in America.While in UK,Top business schools,London Business School and Manchester Business School are already in the search for their new deans.

Recently,there are many changes to the top schools in the form of course content or through the change of admission mode or through changing the faculty.Amidst many criticisims from the observers that the B-Schools are not providing the necessary skills to cope with the changing circumstances,these ambitious moves by schools should help them to provide the industry with the new breed of MBAs.

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/b368b9fe-d51a-11da-93bc-0000779e2340,dwp_uuid=b29636b0-20ee-11d8-81c6-0820abe49a01.html

Microsoft released its second version of Internet Explorer 7.0 on monday,which promises tabbed browsing and better security.In past,Microsoft used to target IT developers and programmers while this time it specifically requests the end users to use this product.And also it is offering round the clock FREE technical support for the users.

IE 7.0 can be used only on Windows XP operating system with Service Pack 2.0.Microsoft was feeling slight decline in the no:of users who are using its IE recently.Mozilla with its Google partner has been gaining ground slowly with its open source offers.But still IE is major player with almost 3/4 of web users relying on it.

And also add-ons to its new products are also released.But I wonder why couldnt they include in the default download instead of making it as add-on.Thus it can improve its marketability.Not many regular users will be aware of the add-ons and even forget to download them later.

Download here : http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/default.mspx

Add ons: http://www.ieaddons.com/

Only question that is lingering in my mind is Will Microsoft uses celebrities to deliver its products to make the Users "hear them" as Intel is already bringing many of them for it’s Dual Core processor Ads.

University officials have announced today that unauthorized access of the electronic records has been gained by the unknown persons.Attorney General and Internet enforcement Unit has been initimated by the University President and they are working actively to identify the hackers.

About 197,000 records have been accessed approx. on April 11 and personal data,SSN and other biographical data has been  accessed.University is intimating the victims of this act through e-mails and letters.

Earlier in 2003,similar breach occurred where Former Student was found guilty of accessing protected systems of the university and also for possessing stolen SSN’s

For more information on how to respond to data theft, visit http://www.mccombs.utexas.edu/datatheft/resources.asp

European Foundation for Management Development(EFMD),the accrediting firm,has approved five new schools:Coppead Graduate Schoolof Business, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Faculty of Business and Economics, Monash University Australia; Lille Graduate School of Management, Groupe ESC Lille, France; University of Hull Business School, UK; and Université de Lausanne, Ecole des HEC, Switzerland.

89 schools in 28 countries have been accredited by EQUIS.

To achieve EQUIS accreditation, Schools must be able to demonstrate that they satisfy
quality criteria in three equally important areas:
1. High international standards of quality in all of the areas defined in the EQUIS
model.
2. A significant level of internationalisation as defined within the EQUIS model.
3. The needs of the corporate world are well integrated into programmes, activities and
processes.

www.efmd.org

Europe’s greatest Management Guru,Charles Handy will be speaking about his new book ‘Myself and Other More Important Matters’ at Manchester Business School at a Breakfast briefing on May 5th ‘06.

Charles Handy was, for many years, a professor at the London Business School. He is now an independent writer and broadcaster. He describes himself, these days, as a social philosopher.

He will be sharing the pearls of his wisdom and secrets of his success and experiences at the school.

Registration Details:

http://www.mbs.ac.uk/news/charles-handy.htm?rssNE

Business Gurus

MBS offers an online community forum,NetVestibule, to its staff,alumni and students,current and prospective, to interact and to exchange.Here students can store their profiles and meet their peers,staff,alumni and also future prospects.MBS attracts more no. of international students than any other school of its kind.And this forum helps them to meet and interact with each other way before they meet at school personally.Future students can take the expertise of seniors and also get latest information about the happenings(internships,placements,accomodation etc.,) in the School.                                             

MBS invokes applicants to use its online application by waiving the application fee(50GBP).Earlier MBS had offered 10% discount(2500 pounds approx) in the tuition fee for the early birds in the november ‘05.

MBS,through its website also offers a sneak peak at the Life at School through the video streams that are now available in their website.Interviews of the alumni,students and staff really help to know more about school and also one can actually feel what to expect in the school.

MBS lays special emphasis on its unique ‘Manchester Method’,learning through doing.Student have to spend minimum of 30% of the their time in Projects.While the Second Phase of the Course completely streesses on it Internation Business Project,which is being conceptualised in other schools under different name.

Links:

Course Content

Videos

Application

Insurance Industries in India are full with business in hands.LIC India market leader has a growth rate of over 40% while ICICI Prudential Life and Bajaj recorded 62% and 292% of growth over last year.LIC holds about 71.65% of the total market share while all the other private owned share the remaining 29%.

LIC has been rolling out new policies handsomely and attracting new customers with its brand value.In India people recognise the term ‘INSURANCE’ by LIC.LIC was almost used as an alias to Life Insurance.Now the private banks have invaded the market industry and have been tapping the revenue with new plans and offers.ICICI Prudential is leading the private firms while Bajaj Allianz ,HDFC etc., are in row.

"Nothing is more important in raising the standard of public services than the quality of their leadership.We need systematic training for leadership… that will turn front-line leaders into Britain’s new social entrepreneurs."
-Tony Blair MP, British Prime Minister

Manchester Business School(MBS),one of the best business schools in the world is offering Masters in Public Administration(MPA) course to the aspiring Leaders who want to lead Public Sector divisions.This is one year programme and the aspirants will be trained through the famous ‘Manchester Method‘.

School has been conducting lot of research in Public Policy Administration,Health Services and other sectors.With the improved facilities after the merging of two universities and talented faculty the school will be offering lot of opportunities to the individuals to benefit from the programme.

Information Sessions are being conducted at Manchester and London in May.

For more information : http://www.mbs.ac.uk/programmes/specialist-masters/courses/mpa-sessions.aspx

China’s President Mr.Hu Jintao appreciated Bill Gates efforts at his mansion.He specifically mentioned "Because you, Mr. Bill Gates, are a friend of China, I’m a friend of Microsoft,"(translated).Mr Hu is on official to US as part of his five nation tour and will be meeting Mr.Bush later to discuss bilateral issues.

Mr.Hu has promised to Gates that China is committed to protect intelluctual rights and has welcomed investments from Microsoft in China.Mr.Hu has visited Redmond Campus and dined at Gate’s home.More than 100 VIP guests have attended the dinner. 

People are now flocking to the test centres to appear for the GMAT.Now a days there have been major news all over about the steep increase in salaries of the MBA graduates and the students who did not attempt for higher studies in early 2000 are trying to join the league of MBA after gaining considerable experience.
211,010 is the count of GMAT volume in the year 2005.GMAC,the council administering the test has published that no:of tests taken have increased by 0.12% in USA  compared to 2004 and has increased by 11% outside the USA.

Table,prepared by GMAC,displays the detailed statistics of the GMAT volume in the last four years(2002-05).
Please note that the numbers here represent that no:of tests taken but not no:of individuals appearing for the test.But the numbers do suggest that more no:of people are showing greater interest in pursuing management studies compared to last 2 years.And also there has been major resurgence in the European Business Schools to launch more unique programs to attract more no:of students.Earlier more european students were fleeing to US for pursuing MBA and the trend has change little bit and might create shift towards europe after a decade or so.

EM Lyon,one of the best european graduate business school is now offering PhD programme starting from September ‘06.It aims to push the doctoral rankings of the school.

Students who are offered admission will be provided with a scholarship worth 18000 Euros/year for all four years.And students will take up Teaching Assistant/Research Assistant posts during the course which enables them to qualify for the scholarship.The educational body promises high standard of training programme and aims to deliver business leaders for tomorrow.

More info about admisssions requirements @ EM LYON PHD

CNN Money has published the "Best Jobs in America" and surprisingly I find Software Engineers are leading here.I was under the impression that Software Engineer job involves lot of slogging and more job switcing.Apart from Salary many other things were considering while coming up with this list.

Top 10 best jobs
1. Software Engineer
2. College professor
3. Financial adviser
4. Human Resources Manager
5. Physician assistant
6. Market research analyst
7. Computer IT analyst
8. Real Estate Appraiser
9. Pharmacist
10. Psychologist

Aspects such as stress levels,flexibility in work-hours,creativitiy and easeness in entering new fields were some of the factors that were considered during the listing.

Complete list of Top 50 Jobs can be viewed at : Money

Last week,I started reading "Geeks and & Geezers" in an attempt to equip myself for my future career plans,MBA.Before I join the cohort of MBA aspirants I wanted to prepare my mind to the challenges and chances given to the dreamers.Initially I was reluctant to read the book but as I started going through the pages,I felt like there is some great knowledge acquired by me at the end of reading.

Authors have compiled the interviews about the Business leaders who have emerged in the last decade of the Century and from the leaders who have emerged in the mid 1900.There are lot of interesting notes and facts presented in this book.And the authors try to enthuse some energy and inspiration into the minds of the readers.And also they provide instances where people have created opportunities and have taken risks to achieve what they have today.

I could not complete the book yet.But the only fact that was disappointing to me was that the examples and surveys presented were completely related to US and no reference has been made to the achievers from other countries.

But I felt as if everyone who is in his twenties and thirties should read this as this will help us to understand what the contemporars are achieving,while at the same time we are slogging in our offices.

Cass Business School offers first Specialist Programme in Pensions Programme.This programme is first of its kind offered by any other school in the world.This course is offered as 12-month Full time or 24-month Part-time basis.

Recently,Cass has been ranked one of the ‘Best Employers for 2006′ by The Sunday Times.Cass is first business school to join the list and also the first university department to the final list in the six years of Best Companies.

And also Cass has be given full re-accreditation by the EQUIS for the next five years.And now Cass is going strong…!

http://www.city.ac.uk/

Miss World 1994 Aishwarya Rai was invited for Late Show by David Letterman @ CBS.

Here she shares about herself and movies she has acted till now.And also she is quite witty sometimes and tries to pull David’s leg.No doubt she carries herself in an elegant fashion but also tried to prove herself as a better person.Watch it..

I cancelled my blockbuster on sunday but I received two DVDs on the next 2 days.I had selected Garden State in my queue and luckily that was the last DVD which blockbuster had shipped.I had no hopes of receiving DVDs on Monday and Tuesday.Monday’s DVD was understandable as it was shipped on saturday.But yesterday it was very surprising to see that the DVD which was requested in the subscribed period was shipped on Monday.Probably it is one of the tricks blockbuster use to retain the Customers even in the last moment.

I read reviews of Garden State but was not sure what I can expect of the movie.Earlier I thought the movie is little old type,boring or some village thing.After watching the movie,I was literally refreshed and was feeling good as if I witnessed a story of a Great Achiever or so. The primary reason for requesting the movie was that Natalie Portman was starring in it and I was literally bowled by her beauty after the "Closer".So I thought of watching all the movies she has acted. So,I set the DVD in my laptop and first started looking for the special features section.I have this habit of going through the trailers and other bits before watching the movie.It makes the movie more interesting and I can prepare myself for the movie

The first scene of the movie caught me by surprise.The background music is a indian devotional hymn(I thought that I had started iTunes accidentally in my system) and here Zach Braff is sitting in a plane which is vacillating in the air and he does not react to the panic sticken surroundings.The story goes on and my eyes are still searching for Natalie on screen.Narration is completely different to the current trend and the mood of the movie almost remains the same(for me).But it grips the audience and throws surprises like Natalie in the hospital advising Zach "to kick the dog in the balls"….

Almost after 20 minutes (in my watch) Natalie comes and she is amazing again..She is beautiful,down to earth and natural in her character.I was watching the trailers of "V for Vendetta" lately and here Natalie is completely different.And also in the press confs,we can see that she is bubbling and giggling while answering the questions.

Back to Garden state,some scenes just made a quick impression on mind like the designer shirt and the guy who tries to get the number of any stranger and attempts to promote a Business Idea.I met similar guys while I was in Jersey and also in Connecticut and I wonder how they start the conversation with people as if they have known for eons. I think I covered much about how i felt after watching ‘Garden State’…Great Movie Indeed and I have added to my "Often Watchable" list.

As the economy is getting more stable and booming at its best in the last five years,Corporate recruiters will be flocking to Business schools to recruit MBA graduates this year,2006.According to the figures released by the Graduate Management Admission Council(GMAC),recruiters are planning to hire more than 18% of MBA’s this year compared to last year.

And the recruiters are emphasizing more on the Soft Skills part of the students along with the business knowledge and international background.

MBA graduate can expect an average base salary of about $80,809 this year,where it was $78,040 in 2005 and was $77,066 in 2004.Including the other benefits the total compensation might touch $99,737.ROI after the MBA will be very high this year compared to earlier years.

The 2006 GMAC Corporate Recruiters Survey includes responses from 1,270 recruiters representing 737 companies that hire MBAs.

More info @ GMAC

Geroge Bush,United States President trying his hand at Cricket on his tour to Pakistan.He tries to play Cricket in Baseball Fashion.

The organisation that focuses on issues concerning children, CRY, has changed its name from Child Relief and You to Child Rights and You. CRY has also announced a strategic shift in its work from relief to rights. They have also come up with a charter of demands for children that asks for increasing government expenditure on children, education in particular.

President of India Mr.A.P.J Abdul Kalam and Prime Minister of India Mr.Manmohan Singh are known for their eagerness to interact with children. The leaders feel and have expressed that they cannot wait for the younger generation, which is filled with positive thoughts, to grow up and ensure a better tomorrow. Perhaps then, it’s time to talk about child rights to ensure that the basic needs of children across the country are met with.

Please make your donations for the welfare of the Children at www.cry.org

We can see that Ronaldinho has contained the passion and enthusiasm for Football from his childhood and no wonder why he is considered as one of the best football players in the world.