The 800 year old prestigious university of Oxford coming to our own Pune! :)

Oxford University to set up branch in Pune

Manash Pratim Gohain | TNN

New Delhi: If you can’t study at Oxford, the university will come to you. For the first time in its 800-year-old history, Oxford University has announced that it will set up an offshore facility at Lavasa near Pune.
Oxford University vice chancellor John Hood, who is part of the high-level UK delegation to India, on Monday announced the establishment of Oxford University India Business Centre (OUIBC) which will be part of the Said Business School at Oxford.
On choosing India as the university’s first offshore establishment, Hood said, “India has become increasingly important for Oxford and the world at large. And the university is committed to expanding its collaboration with India which has enriched Oxford’s intellectual heritage for more than 400 years.’’
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New Delhi: Oxford vice-chancellor John Hood has revealed the varsity’s plans to enter India. The Oxford University India Business Centre (OUIBC) campus at Lavasa near Pune will offer an executive management programme.
“We are going to develop a range of executive education programmes to be delivered through a new facility, which will be visited by our faculty at Oxford,’’ he said.
From 2009, he added, the university will introduce a Masters degree in Indian Studies for scholars of the social sciences to study politics, economics, developmental issues, international relations and the challenges of modern India.
The primary objective of the Lavasa centre, however, will be to research and understand the “extraordinary developments’’ in the Indian business scenario in recent years.
The business centre will be funded by Ajit Gulabchand, chairman of Lavasa Corporation. He will also endow a new chair, Ajit Gulabchand Professor of Indian Business Studies at the University of Oxford, to be based at the Said Business School at Oxford.