Hyderabad: In the first such tie-up, the Indian School of Business (ISB), one of the top business schools in the world, on Friday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Karachi, to provide executive education in Pakistan.

The Centre for Executive Education (CEE) at ISB will offer "open" and "custom- designed" programmes under the collaboration, the first as part of its mission of focusing on emerging markets.

Deepak Chandra, deputy dean, ISB and Ishrat Husain, dean and director, IBA, Karachi signed the MoU, under which ISB would provide executive education courses to senior management executives looking to fast track their careers.

The CEE, one of the largest executive education providers in Asia, will design and deliver the programmes while IBA, the oldest business school outside North America will do the marketing and promotion.

The first programme is scheduled to commence in June this year. The CEE plans to offer 10 programmes in the first year. The course offerings will include open or short-duration programmes that are driven by research, custom-designed programmes or specialized courses devised to cater to specific needs of a particular organization as well as workshops and seminars.

Under the partnership, the first between two business schools of India and Pakistan, the ISB faculty would visit IBA.

Deepak Chandra said the initial areas of focus will be family business, entrepreneurship, business leadership, strategy and related domains. There will also be programmes on Public Private Partnership (PPP).

"We are confident that this partnership will help generate tremendous opportunities for cross-collaboration between the two schools and sets the tone for many more future associations aimed at nurturing business and entrepreneurs who would contribute to the growth of business and industry in Pakistan," said Deepak Chandra.

"As a long time advocate and firm believer in friendly relations between the two neighborly countries, I feel that for peace and prosperity of our people this event represents a turning point," said Ishrat Husain, a well-known economist and former governor of Pakistan's central bank.

"India has made huge advances in higher education, science and technology and we in Pakistan should benefit from their achievements," he added. IANS