May 9, 2002-Vol33n28: Raising the MBA profile

Raising the MBA profile
Bringing Indian IT specialists to UB helps M&T, university

By JOHN DELLA CONTRADA
Contributing Editor

Ten information-technology professionals from India, recruited for the UB MBA program with the assistance of M&T Bank, are helping the bank implement new IT applications while boosting the academic profile of the MBA program.

The students—recruited by representatives from M&T Bank and the School of Management during a three-day trip to India last year—are working on various IT projects for M&T as graduate assistants at the School of Management and will have paid internships at M&T this summer. In exchange, the students are receiving M&T-funded scholarships to the two-year MBA program and are scheduled to graduate next spring.

The students were selected from among more than 500 applicants after a lengthy interview in India, and based on their scores on a rigorous IT-competency exam administered by M&T and on the Graduate Management Admissions Test, required for entrance to the UB MBA program.

Their recruitment underscores the School of Management's efforts to enroll highly qualified students who possess work experience in areas valued by corporate recruiters, like information technology. By doing so, the school hopes to entice more corporate recruiters to campus and raise its profile with publications, such as Business Week and The Wall Street Journal, that rank the best business schools in the United States.

"It's a win-win-win situation," explained Daniel Boscarino, administrative vice president of human resources at M&T Bank, who interviewed the students in India last February, along with Christopher Tolomeo, M&T's administrative vice president for information technology, and Lewis Mandell, professor of finance and managerial economics and former dean at the School of Management.

"M&T gains the assistance of some very talented students, the students gain an excellent education and high-level exposure to the U.S. business environment, and the School of Management enrolls high-caliber students who help it achieve its recruitment goals," Boscarino added.

H.R. Rao, professor of management science and systems, supervises the students and monitors their progress on projects, along with representatives from M&T. According to Rao, the students work on projects after class in a computer lab specially equipped for their assignments. He said M&T's total contribution to the effort includes funding for hardware and software costs, 10 two-year scholarships and 10 paid summer internships.

"These students have been a welcome addition to the School of Management," Rao says. "Without the assistance of M&T, most of them would not have applied to UB nor gained this level of education and experience."

Gaurav Patankar, for example, was recruited from Mumbai, India, where he worked as an implementation specialist for a company that provides cash-management support for multinational banks. As a UB MBA student, he's developing a system for streamlining online applications generated by M&T corporate customers. He hopes to pursue a career in product management and operations, possibly at M&T, after graduating next year.

"This is the type of situation I could only dream for in India," said Patankar, 24. "I'm working on very interesting projects and getting excellent field exposure to U.S. business practices and corporate culture at M&T."

Fellow student Hemant Padmanabhan, 23, was recruited from the technology-outsourcing company Syntel, Inc. in Mumbai, where he led a team of 11 software developers. He's working with M&T managers to develop a system for online submittal, approval and processing of various personnel forms, which should create a substantial cost savings for the bank

"In my line of work, you need to develop business skills to go along with technical skills if you want to further your career," Padmanabhan says. "This is a great opportunity to get an all-around business education while doing some interesting work for a well-known U.S. company."

In addition to these projects, the students are working on three others with the bank: an analysis of wireless security systems for wireless banking applications, improving the application system for indirect loans and implementation of a new operating system for the bank's internal computer network.