The Economic Times, April 12, 2011 -- "There is a new surge of interest in executive education in India. With high growth and globalisation beckoning it, India Inc. feels more than ever before the need for learning and development at an accelerated pace," expresses Prof. Debashis Chatterjee, Director, IIM Kozhikode. At IIMK, broadly, for operational effectiveness, executive learning activities are divided into short-term offerings focusing on professional development and longterm offerings (education/career programmes). Further, these executive programmes could be tele-delivered through an interactive distance learning platform across multiple locations or delivered through face-to-face instructions at a specific fixed location/IIMK Campus. Similarly, Great Lakes Institute of Management offers two post-graduate programs – Post Graduate Executive Program in Management (PGXPM), and Post Graduate Working professionals' Program in Management (PGWPM). The first one is to prepare successful functional managers for GM and future leadership roles and the second is similar to the one year full-time program for young professionals with two year plus experience who are not in a position to take a break in their employment. "Every manager has to grow up the leadership pipeline by making crucial transitions. Each of these transitions call for a new and distinct set of abilities. And these abilities should be systematically developed. Thus, it also augurs well for the management to periodically invest upon the talented managers to groom them for the growth and retain them," asserts Prof RS Veeravalli, Director - Executive Education, Associate Professor, Great Lakes Institute of Management. Other than institutes offering executive education programmes, many organisations too are initiating tie-ups and their own inhouse programmes. "At EMC India Center of Excellence (COE), we strongly believe that an effective set of leaders can provide a distinct competitive advantage, one that is not easy to replicate. Hence, the EDGE program was created . EDGE (Educate, Develop, Grow, Empower) is an accelerated leadership development program for EMC INDIA COE. It was designed to develop leadership competencies at the middle and senior management levels. The program was crafted in collaboration with IIM-B after a rigorous review of literature, industry best practices and inputs from senior EMC INDIA COE leaders," shares Debashis Patnaik, Senior Director, Human Resources for EMC, India Center of Excellence. Ashish Srivastava, Director-HR, Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance further shares, "Our executive programs focus on learning via supreme academic entities as Harvard Business School, Wharton, London School of Business, IIMs, XLRI and ISB." At UST Global, they have various executive education programs like Executive Leadership Assessment and Development programs; UST MBA Program; specialised and focused leadership program venturing with premier institutes like IIM and training programs offered for leadership development. "This is done as a part of the organisation's effort to create leaders and managers who can take the company to its next level of growth. The organisation aims at creating a pipeline of world-class leaders for years to come," states Niketh Sundar, Global Head HR, UST Global. According to Patnaik, "Such programmes are fundamental to improving the managers and leadership in the organisation and equip them with the advanced skills to excel as multifaceted leaders and building individual and organisational skills." "A person who shares a global platform at Harvard or IIM returns with a major paradigm shift in her/his manner, approach and perspective," says Srivastava. Executive education programmes are certainly the way forward for organisations as well as employees as they not only help them enhance their skills and qualifications, but also help the organisation, thus leading it towards a more competent and motivated workforce.