XLRI’s Indo-French-Danish Knowledge Collaboration

New Delhi [India], September 8: XLRI came together with the University of Paris-1 Pantheon Sorbonne, the University of Bordeaux, the UNESCO Chair at the University of Paris Nanterre, the Danish Consortium for Academic Craftsmanship (a Danish government accredited alliance of vocational and skill-based education institutions), and the International Institute of Education Consortium of Universities to announce a landmark multi-country collaboration across academic programs, executive education, and research activities.

The event was held on 6^th September 2025 at the India Habitat Center in New Delhi. The dignitaries from XLRI included Fr. Nelson A D’Silva, the Acting Director of XLRI’s Delhi-NCR Campus; Dr. Munish Thakur, Dean (Academics) of XLRI’s Delhi-NCR Campus; Fr. Alwyn Rodriguez, Administrator of XLRI’s Delhi-NCR Campus; and Dr. Santosh Sangem, Chairperson of International Relations and Collaborations. The dignitaries from the foreign universities included Dr. Eric Lamarque, Dean of IAE Paris Sorbonne Business School; Dr. Alberto Arubulu, Director of MBA programs and Assistant Director – International Office of IAE Bordeaux School of Management; Prof. Michael Christensen, Head of International Relations of IBC International Business School (a constituent member of the DCAC alliance); Dr. Jorge Cardoso, UNESCO Chain, University of Paris, Nanterre and Chancellor of the International Institute of Education Consortium of Universities (IIE Consortium); and Dr. Ashwani Goel, Director of the IIE Consortium. The dignitaries were welcomed, and they exchanged official documents related to the alliance.

Having recently achieved the landmark platinum jubilee of delivering excellence across academic programs, executive education, and research, XLRI looks forward to furthering its mission of developing industry-ready professionals who will be attuned towards achieving the greater good of the nation and the world. The collaborations with reputed global universities to offer meaningful, high-quality, unique program offerings at an affordable cost to Indian students and professionals are a key element in taking XLRI to even greater heights as we look ahead to our centennial. The emphasis of these collaborations is not to travel the beaten path, but to innovate and address the unique and dynamic needs of professionals, organizations and society in a rapidly growing India of the future.

The dignitaries underscored the significance of these collaborations towards promoting Indo-French ties in education, a key element of long-term relationships between the two countries, as repeatedly emphasized by the heads of state of both countries. These long-term collaborations seek to bring high-class education and a global experience through the design and delivery of industry-relevant learning experiences to Indian students and industry professionals. The ultimate goal of these collaborative initiatives is to make high-quality, affordable, industry-relevant, and unique learning experiences available to Indian students to enable them to contribute meaningfully to industry.

The collaboration discussions and activities have been in the works for nearly two years. These led to the identification and design of multiple industry-relevant specialization degrees that will be offered during 2025-26 as full-time and part-time academic programs in addition to executive education offerings.  Keeping in focus the long-term evolution of the alliance, further new specialization programs and executive education programs are being actively worked upon by the teams from the institutions. The institutions look forward to strengthening their collaboration across academic programs, research, faculty and student exchange, and executive education programs over the years and developing a highly effective ecosystem for encouraging activities designed to address the needs of modern professionals and organizations. In addition, the alliance partners are actively working with other university members of the IIE consortium to identify and design multi-country experiences to develop Indian students and professionals as global leaders of the future.

Speaking at the event, Fr. Nelson D’Silva, SJ, Acting Director, XLRI: Delhi-NCR campus, expressed his excitement at being amongst the few Indian institutions that are collaborating with Sorbonne, Bordeaux, DCAC, and the IIE Consortium. He was especially pleased with the collaboration with the Sorbonne, the erstwhile University of Paris, which is held in special regard by the Jesuit Community as being the alma mater of St. Francis Xavier and St. Ignatius Loyola, the founders of the Society of Jesus. He further suggested that the alliance and its functioning could become a blueprint for future initiatives by XLRI.  XLRI aims to become an institution of high global standing, especially considering its plans to become a multi-disciplinary deemed university.

Dr. Eric Lamarque, Dean of the Sorbonne Business School, expressed his excitement for the future of the collaboration and stated that he hopes for the current alliance to provide a framework that could help other reputed French institutions, as well as global members of the IIE Consortium, to collaborate with XLRI and with each other. This would, in his view, play a key role in strengthening and shaping the future of Indo-French academic collaboration, especially in management education and practice. He also expressed his appreciation to the teams of all the alliance members for their tireless efforts over the last two years to conceptualize and make progress towards the start of a fulfilling long-term collaboration that has the potential to make a meaningful impact on global society and industry.

Dr. Alberto Arubulu, Director of MBA programs at Bordeaux School of Management, expressed his delight at the establishment of the collaboration that was long in the making. He thanked the teams at XLRI, Bordeaux, and the IIE Consortium for their significant efforts over the past two years to bring this collaboration to fruition.

Representing the Danish Consortium for academic craftsmanship, Prof. Michael Christensen, Head of International Relations at IBC International Business College, expressed his excitement at the opportunity to collaborate with XLRI across its entrepreneurship programs, global programs, and the co-creation and delivery of meaningful business skills-based programs and program components that would uniquely address the needs of Indian management professionals and industry.

Dr. Jorge Cardoso, Chancellor of the IIE Consortium and the UNESCO Chair at University of Paris-Nanterre, expressed his excitement at witnessing the progress of the alliance and the massive efforts put in by Dr. Ashwani Goel and the teams of the member institutions in creating a first-of-its-kind, significant collaboration in Indian management education.

Fr. George Sebastian, Director of XLRI Jamshedpur, who could not be present for the event, conveyed his wishes and encouragement for the success of the collaborative efforts. He expressed his deep satisfaction and expectations for these initiatives to be successful and further XLRI’s vision of driving excellence and nurturing responsible global leaders who would contribute meaningfully towards the greater common good and a sustainable global future.

How do these Collaborations benefit Indian Students and Professionals

The collaborative offerings designed by XLRI, Sorbonne, Bordeaux, and the DCAC provide a unique opportunity to Indian students to gain a global experience with an unmatched rigor and learning experience that significantly enhances their capabilities as business professionals. By combining the strengths of these reputed institutions with highly accomplished faculty and industry connections, the programs offer unique opportunities to students to combine the fundamentals of management with advanced applications to specialized domains such as healthcare management, family business, digital business, and consulting.

The programs have been co-designed by the faculty of XLRI, Sorbonne, Bordeaux, and DCAC and will be jointly delivered. In addition to these specialized domains, we are in the process of designing more specialization domain programs that address the pressing needs of the Indian Economy and Industry. There is a growing requirement from Industry for management professionals with capabilities and knowledge in management as well as a much deeper understanding of and the ability to apply such knowledge in a holistic, integrated manner to their specific industry/domain. It is in this context that the program is uniquely designed with a blend of management curriculum and industry/domain-specific specializations rather than functional specializations. This allows the multi-disciplinary application of knowledge in management domains to a higher order, integrated application to specific industries. The addition of an experiential workshop component delivered by DCAC brings to the fore the integrated, practical application of learnings in the programs through its emphasis on intrapreneurship and the development of an entrepreneurial mindset.

Employers across Europe and internationally are familiar with Sorbonne and Bordeaux and recognize that these universities signal academic rigor, global competence, multilingual and multicultural exposure, and strong decision-making capabilities. Many graduates from the Sorbonne and Bordeaux have gone on to build their careers in multinational firms and international organizations after obtaining their degrees.

The “Diplôme national” degrees from accredited French public universities like Sorbonne and Bordeaux are official national degrees which are recognized by all EU/EEA countries in addition to most OECD and Commonwealth countries Recognized Qualification for Work Visas as meeting the academic qualification requirements for skilled workers visa categories (e.g., EU Blue Card, UK’s Skilled Worker visa, Canada’s Express Entry system).  These degrees are registered in most national databases, traceable and easily verifiable by embassies and immigration authorities and are exempt from additional validation in most EU visa systems. The Sorbonne and Bordeaux degrees score highly in the evaluation of qualifications across countries.