Hyderabad, Jun 9 (IANS): The Indian School of Business (ISB) on Wednesday announced that it has signed a comprehensive partnership agreement with the University of Sydney Business School (USBS) for five years.

The two world-class business schools signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to promote research collaborations, academic exchange, and student mobility. This is expected to provide a major impetus in fostering new and futuristic paradigms in management education.

Joint initiatives being planned include a dual master's degree, which would be delivered both at the University of Sydney and the Indian School of Business, executive education programmes, as well doctoral student mobility and co-supervision.

Both schools see international immersion as a core requirement for developing future-ready graduates. In 2019, the University of Sydney was ranked the largest student mobility programme in Australia for the second year in a row.

Cooperation between the two schools will be explored in academic research, doctoral research, coursework education, corporate engagement and in contributing to policy development in and for a post-Covid world, ISB said.

The partnership is ISB's first comprehensive partnership with an Australian School in the business and management field. This was formally launched on Wednesday at a webinar.

"The need of the hour is to forge new academic partnerships that will enhance ISB's global insights and presence through exchange of ideas and people. I am confident that ISB's comprehensive partnership with University of Sydney Business School will usher in new insights based on multidisciplinary research that will contribute to management thought leadership and in designing new trajectories in management education globally," said Professor Rajendra Srivastava, Dean of the Indian School of Business.

"In the face of what seems an increasingly divided world since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, we must seize opportunities to deepen our partnerships with international institutions. Despite the challenges of distance, we are delighted to celebrate this new partnership with such a prestigious institution and look forward to many more collaborations with the Indian School of Business," said Professor Greg Whitwell, Dean of the University of Sydney Business School.

Speaking at the event, Brett Galt-Smith, Counsellor (Education and Research), Australian High Commission, New Delhi, said that the partnership fits very well with India - Australia bilateral ties and augurs well for both the countries. He called on the need to capitalise on the soft power of education and further build on its untapped potential. He underlined that India's new national education policy will go a long way in internationalisation of education and it will bring in more value to the educational set-up.

Ruchika Jain, First Secretary, Press Information & Culture, High Commission of India, Canberra, Australia hoped the partnership will facilitate new opportunities and interactions between both the countries.