



West Asia conflict: IIM Ahmedabad moves Dubai batch to India
Mint that he and the institute’s director met and decided to bring the Dubai cohort to the Ahmedabad campus until the war subsides.The conflict involving the US and Israel against Iran, now in its third week, has spilled across West Asia, forcing Indian companies and institutions operating in the region to reassess their operations and contingency plans.Other Indian educational institutions with campuses in Dubai are also weighing how best to continue classes if the conflict escalates.Besides IIM Ahmedabad, BITS Pilani operates an engineering campus in Dubai that was established in 2000. Mint has learnt that the college has started online classes, though it did not respond to Mint’s queries.SP Jain School of Global Management and Amity University also have campuses in Dubai but did not respond to queries emailed last week.Education analysts said the decision to relocate students or move online often depends less on pedagogy and more on logistics.“IIM Ahmedabad has taken a smart move by bringing the entire batch in Dubai to India.
They could do it because their batch strength is small,” said Narayanan Ramaswamy, partner and leader for education and skill development practice at consulting firm KPMG.He added that institutions with larger cohorts may have fewer options. “Institutions like BITS on the other hand have a larger batch and online-synchronous / hybrid models may be the best option,” he said, noting that some courses such as traditional MBA programmes can adapt well to virtual formats, but logistics should not outweigh the quality of education.Indian companies with staff in the region are also monitoring the situation.
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