Bengaluru, Aug 20: International School of Management Excellence (ISME), Bangalore today announced the formation of an International Advisory Council to guide the business school’s global partnerships, and outlined a new mobility model designed to remove the single biggest barrier facing Indian management students seeking international exposure that is cost. Rather than the conventional academic exchange semester, often unaffordable for Indian students once visas, travel and living costs are factored in, ISME’s model places students directly into paid internships with international companies.
The approach draws on France’s VIE (Volontariat International en Entreprise) program, under which the French government reimburses roughly half the cost of a student’s international placement. ISME is exploring comparable mechanisms with German partners to fund a reciprocal internship pipeline between Bengaluru and Germany.
“International exposure has always been part of ISME’s promise to our students, but the truth is Indian families find it very expensive to fund a semester abroad, so they don’t end up applying. By anchoring this program in paid internships rather than expensive exchange semesters, we are making global experience something our students earn, not something only a few can afford. That is the model we want to build with our International Advisory Council,” said Dr. Nitin Garg, Founder & Director, ISME Bangalore.
The announcement follows a series of international engagements this year, including a visit to ISME’s Bengaluru campus by representatives of the University of Virginia as part of a US institutional immersion program, and early-stage discussions with PUM Netherlands, a probono advisory body, on aligning ISME’s postgraduate curriculum with European standards.
ISME also announced that it is developing the internship pipeline with THWS Business School in Germany and has committed to sending the university a detailed reciprocal internship-exchange proposal following the council’s meeting, with a goal of hosting the first cohort of German students in Bengaluru as early as next summer, alongside reciprocal placements for ISME students in Germany.
The International Advisory Council, comprising academic and industry representatives from Europe, the US and the UK, will meet quarterly to steer ISME’s partnership strategy, with a focus on institutions accredited by EFMD (European Foundation for Management Development) and ranked by QS.
“What ISME is proposing is not a study tour, it is a working partnership. Applied universities in Germany already send students into industry for extended periods as part of their academic model. If these internships are structured properly, with real supervision and real deliverables, they will hold up to scrutiny from companies on both sides, not just from academic reviewers,” said Prof. Dr. Harald J. Bolsinger, Director, Master’s Program in Managing Global Dynamics, THWS Business School, Germany, and International Advisory Council member.