A “one-of-its-kind centre” for entrepreneurship is being planned by J.D. Birla Institute (JDBI) to fulfil a growing need for nurturing entrepreneurial talent in the city. Announcing this at the inauguration of the satellite centre of the J.D. Birla School of Management, chairman of the institute S.K. Birla said the course would provide an MBA degree with “an entrepreneurship angle”.

JDBI runs a three-year management course, under Jadavpur University (JU)’s department of engineering & technology, for students who have finished high school. Birla spoke of plans to add a master’s level to the existing bachelor’s course, as soon as the green-signal is given by JU and the government.

“The satellite centre will have all the modern components needed for a management course,” said Suman Mukherjee, head of the institute at 1, Moira Street. “Apart from the best of faculty and other resources, we have a computer centre, a learning resource centre and a fantastic auditorium,” he added. According to Mukherjee, actor Naseeruddin Shah had, on a recent visit to the institute, praised the auditorium as one of the best in the city.

The possibility of a tie-up with UK’s Northumbria University is also being explored. This will include student and faculty exchange. British Council has selected the institute and course for links with British universities, authorities said.

The formal inauguration of the centre was done by JU vice-chancellor Ashok Nath Basu. “It is an occasion of happiness whenever educational development such as this takes place,” Basu said. The trend around the world is increasingly shifting towards education, but it must be “education for all and at every stage”, he added. Teachers, Basu felt, must also update their knowledge regularly, since knowledge is becoming obsolete at a very fast pace.

Space crunch forced the management course at JDBI to be held in makeshift classrooms till now. But that will change with the swank classrooms and state-of-the-art facilities at the satellite centre, on the JDBI rooftop.