The academic year, 2016-2017, is a landmark year for FLAME University’s internationalization efforts. One of our biggest achievements has been inking a unique partnership with Nuffield College, University of Oxford. The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2016-2017 lists University of Oxford as the number one ranked university in the world. Nuffield College is a constituent of the University of Oxford, specializing in social sciences. This exclusive partnership, one of its kind in India, creates a collaborative Centre for Experimental Social Sciences here at FLAME University, the first such research centre in India, and only the third in the world by Oxford. It is an investment in social science research that gives a platform to work across economics, sociology, political science and social psychology in addition to their applications in law, management and public policy.
Additionally, we have announced deep collaborations with Wellesley College, premier liberal arts institution in USA; Yale University – one of the eight IVY League Universities; Kelley School of Business at Indiana University Bloomington - ranked 8th, tied with Carnegie Mellon University and The University of Texas at Austin, for its Undergraduate Business Program; Babson Collaborative of Babson College – number one ranked Entrepreneurship program; amongst various others. These collaborations range from student exchange, study abroad, faculty exchange, joint curriculum development, joint research, joint program development and executive education.
Internationalization of FLAME University was a concerted effort of many and we are very proud of what we have been able to achieve in this past year. It is not only a testament of our unique offerings, but also the trust and belief that the world’s premier institutes have bestowed upon us. Senior leadership teams from Nuffield College - University of Oxford, Wellesley College, Yale University, Babson College, Indiana University Bloomington, and Denison College have visited our campus and interacted with FLAME’s leadership team to explore ways to deepen our relationship. FLAME students have already had the opportunity to study abroad at some of these partner institutions.
FLAME University continues to attract faculty members with outstanding national and international education background, scholarship, experience and orientation. Our full-time faculty strength exceeds 70 and we will be adding at least a dozen more in the coming months. Our faculty are from the most revered institutions in India and the world. Our full-time scholars come from IIT’s IIM’s, MICA, Harvard, Stanford, Oxford, Cambridge, University of Chicago, and Vanderbilt, amongst various others.
Quality research is critical for our future growth and reputation. In addition to social sciences research collaboration with Nuffield College, University of Oxford mentioned earlier, this year a total of 116 research contributions were made by our faculty in the form of research papers, books, seminar presentations and, cases and book chapters. We have had 35 journal publications including two A category journals and six books published by the faculty during the year. 34 faculty members have presented papers in international conferences while 29 papers were presented in national conferences. FLAME faculty continues to organise a major case conference and publishes a book every year jointly with Economic Times Cases.
More than fifty dignitaries visited our campus from all walks of life during the year. Some of them include Aamir Khan, Russell Napier, Javed Akhtar, M. R. Madhavan, Jatin Paranjape, Dr. Cesare Onestini amongst various others.
Additionally, many workshops, seminars, talks and conferences were held showcasing the diverse disciplines FLAME offers.
Institutionally, we would like to continue to foster original thinking and in doing so several initiatives continue to see growth. The FLAME Investment Lab has been a very prestigious program associated with that spirit. It is designed and offered as a short-term program that discusses the art of value investing. It is attended by investors, portfolio managers and research analysts and many distinguished speakers have addressed participants in the lab.
Another of our flagship courses the Discover India Program had this year’s prize for the best group go to “The Real Madras Handkerchief”.
Our involvement in the Global Liberal Arts Alliance is only deepening. We are the only liberal arts university from India to be a member of this global alliance. Additionally, FLAME University's Vivekananda library has become the first ever International branch of Library of Mistakes, Edinburgh. It is the only international branch outside of the home country. The Library of Mistakes provides a resource for the study of mistakes made in the sphere of business and finance, learning from the economic disasters of the past thereby improving financial understanding amongst professionals, students and the public.
This year, fifty companies participated in our placement process. On average students got a chance to sit for five interviews. Some of the iconic companies that have participated in our recruitment process include HDFC, Kotak, ICICI, Axis, Café Coffee Day, Yes Bank, Mahindra Finance, Dunia Finance, ITC, Vedanta, Capital First, Viacom 18, D-Mart, Infoedge, amongst many others. We would like to thank all our recruiters for their continued support.
The number of applications to various FLAME University programs continues to increase. We continue to raise the bar in our student intake which keeps us challenged and on our toes.
All of this would not have been possible without the support and encouragement from our Governing Body and Board of Management. I would like to express our gratitude and thanks for this support. I would also to thank all my faculty colleagues, Deans and Departmental Heads for their hard work and commitment that made us achieve all that I have just described. I would also like to thank our Registrar, all the officers and staff for providing all the administrative support and services for smooth functioning of the academic activities. Every member of FLAME community has contributed in one way or the other and I would record our appreciation and thank all of them.
Dr. Devi Singh
Vice-Chancellor, FLAME University