SDA Bocconi School of Management , a leading Italian business school in Milan, has announced plans to open a branch in India, its first campus abroad.

The new initiative, the Mumbai International School of Business , or M.I.S.B. Bocconi, expects about 100 students to start a postgraduate program in business in July 2012.

Professor Stefano Caselli, the project manager of M.I.S.B. and a professor of finance at the university in Milan, said by telephone in Mumbai that courses there would not be a carbon copy of those in Italy. Instead, he said, they would be tailored to trends in Indian higher education and would focus on Asian markets and entrepreneurship.

The initial courses will be designed to attract top Indian students who have just completed their undergraduate degrees, Mr. Caselli said, with a view to introducing customized executive programs in the long term.

SDA Bocconi has had alliances with higher education establishments in India since 2000, but the decision to set up a permanent foreign campus came after a three-year process that considered locations around the world.

With the expansion in India, Bocconi hopes to increase its network and exposure throughout Asia. While Mr. Caselli acknowledges that there are advantages to establishing an early presence in the country, he added that the inevitable arrival of rival business schools in there would have a positive effect on the quality of research and networks in the region.

Source: : NewYorktimes.com, Dec 25, 2011