JOIN USStalls offer insight into aerospace, defence courses
In the midst of defence contractors and manufacturers, Aero India 2017 also provided an opportunity for educational institutions to reach out to students about their courses in the defence and aerospace sectors.
The Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) has a stall at the expo to inform people about their Aerospace MBA (AeMBA) programme that was started in 2015, jointly with Toulouse Business School in France. “We came to Aero India because we thought we could reach out to professionals in the aerospace industry who are not aware of the course. Surprisingly, even a lot of companies, Indian and foreign, have approached us because they want to hire talent,” said Richa Singhal, marketing consultant for IIMB. Pilots, IT professionals and people in the aerospace industry looking to develop leadership skills have approached the stall in the last four days, Singhal said.
While the AeMBA is only for working professionals with industry experience, freshers with Bachelor’s degrees have been approaching the stall of Cranfield University in the UK pavilion. Many parents have enquired about aerospace engineering courses for their children. A representative of Cranfield University said that they take Aero India very seriously as it is a platform for networking. The vice chancellor of the university was also here to meet the Defence minister and sign MoUs with several Indian universities. One such MoU was signed with the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), Bengaluru, to offer specialised courses on defence manufacturing.
Amit Patil was among the interested candidates who wanted to know about PhD opportunities in Cranfield. “I did my Masters in design and worked in the aerospace industry for eight years. Now, I want to specialise in a niche area because it will help me move forward in my career,” he said.
Fascinated by aircraft doing stunts in the sky, several people have approached the stall of Flying Academy to enquire about their courses. Nikola Zavadilova, a representative of the flight school based in the Czech Republic, said, “We were not keen on coming for the Aero Show because we thought it was only about engineering so it wouldn’t be relevant to us. But, we have had a large number of students asking about the application process.
Many parents have also enquired to admit their children.” Since a large number of students at their Academy’s centres in the USA are Indians, they want to open an office in New Delhi. “We are using this opportunity to meet companies who could partner with us to open the office,” Zavadilova said.