January 26, 2024 will mark the 75th Republic Day of India where French President Emmanuel Macron will be the chief guest. In the context of emerging geopolitics, the day is going to be significant in more ways than one.
India and France have a rich, shared history of mutual respect towards each other’s national sovereignty, autonomy in international relations, multilateralism as well as nuclear deterrence. From former French Prime Minister Jacques Chirac who was the chief guest at the Republic Day in 1998 when India and France began their strategic cooperation to Macron, both the nations have come a long way, broadening their bilateral bond on the way.
As India and France chart their future course with the joint roadmap of “Horizon 2047”, the education sector can play a key role in the continued exchange of the two nation’s knowledge, innovation and research. Under President Macron, France has committed to annually welcome 30,000 Indian students by 2030 and offered five-year Schengen visas to those who have studied in France during at least one semester, on the condition that they pass a Master level degree. Similarly, India’s new Foreign Higher Education Institution (FHEI) regulations promise to open doors for French institutions to set up campuses and partnerships in India.As the Indo-French ties strengthen, one of the leading and oldest business schools from France, emlyon business school, which is strongly committed to India, continues to build on the two nation’s shared vision by consolidating its operations and collaboration.
Founded in 1872 by the Lyon CCI, emlyon business school offers undergraduate, post-graduate as well as executive education to international students and their rankings stand testimony to their academic excellence, knowledge, hybridization and internationalization. The school is ranked #4 in France and #7 worldwide, as per the Financial Times 2023 rankings for Master’s in Management.
The school has already forged partnerships with academic institutions of repute across India such as IIM Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, Lucknow, Indore, as well as with MDI Gurgaon, XLRI and Jindal University for various academic initiatives and exchange programs together. It has also recently signed MoUs with IIM, Mumbai, ISB, Hyderabad and Manipal University, Jaipur, strengthening its presence in India.
Interestingly, emlyon business school is one of the few schools that has also been bringing in students from France to India as part of their Master’s in Management program, Grand Ecole. This year, while India and France are committed to cooperate on cybersecurity and digital technology, emlyon business school is planning to bring in students from its MSc in Cybersecurity and Defence Management program to visit MDI, Gurgaon for an 8-week immersion program from May to June 2024.According to Dr Mohit Anand, Director of Operations for the school in India and also a Professor of International Business and Strategy, “for emlyon, India is an important market and we have increased our footprint here over the past several years. Be it for student and faculty exchange, organizing rural world entrepreneurship forum, actively leading the discussion in the India-France knowledge summit and organizing various immersion trips and tailored management programs.
As a leading French and a European business school offering quality education and competencies to its 9000+ students and with presence of over 38000 alumni in 130 countries. We aspire to have a strong relationship with key stakeholders in India related to academia and corporate world to enhance the skill sets and competencies of Indian students required for this globalized world”.
