Stansfield Business School, now in Chennai

"We chose Chennai as it has very good infrastructure, a pool of talented people and is closest to Singapore

Bringing the experience of Singapore and London to a B-school in Chennai. This is the avowed objective of Kannappan Chettiar, who heads the Singapore-based educational enterprise, Stansfield Group. In the process, he has turned into the largest overseas investor in education, at least in this part of the country.

Western ambiance

Last month, Stansfield announced its arrival in the city, buying up a good piece of real estate on the arterial Anna Salai and converting it into a Rs. 25-crore state-of-the-art complex. Alongside, it has brought in the ambiance of a Western B-school.

Future plans

The group is investing about Rs. 500 crores in setting up 20 international business schools in India, starting with its corporate headquarters in Chennai. "We chose Chennai as it has very good infrastructure, a pool of talented people, and is closest to Singapore," says Mr. Chettiar.

Back in the city-state, the group runs the Singapore Institute of Commerce and the Stansfield School of Business. Most importantly, its undergraduate and post-graduate programs are those of the University of London. In India, the group will run all the 20 campuses it plans to establish by 2008 under the Stansfield School of Business name.

The School has been permitted by the London School of Economics to conduct UG courses after an inspection visit by the director for external study. Students can study the entire three-year undergraduate degree in Chennai or just the first year and transfer to over 20 UK universities for the second and third year. The School will also offer postgraduate and undergraduate courses from other internationally reputed universities like the University of New Brunswick, Economics, Banking, and Finance.

"We will be offering the University of Western Australia M.Ed. degree considered to be top in Australia," says Mr. Chettiar. The group plans to spread its wings across Hyderabad and Bangalore. In Chennai, already a few hundred students have enrolled for both undergraduate and post-graduate programs.

Recently, 100 Chinese students enrolled for courses in Accounting, Information Systems, Business Studies, Law, Economics, and other subjects. New programs from NUS, Business, Management (Canada's oldest university), RMIT-Australia, and Murdoch University are being added in the current year.

Courses offered

The courses offered include a standard three-year B.Sc. degree in Mathematics and Economics, Business, Management, Management with Law, Computing and Information Systems, Accounting and Finance, English, and Philosophy. Other courses offered by the business school include two- and Accounting with Law.

Initial offer fee

While the examination procedure has been streamlined by the British Council, evaluation will be done by a team at the London School of Economics. The initial offer fee is Rs. 5 lakhs for the three-year course (and also for the four-year LT program). The School at 22, Patullos Road, can be reached at 55230000.