Hit the retail market

• Q: I am a marketing executive and want to work in the retail sector. Can you suggest a good short-term programme in retail management?

M.K. Bolia

• A: Birla Institute of Management Technology (BIMTECH), Greater Noida, in partnership with Philadelphia University, Pennsylvania, is launching an 11-month executive programme in retail management (starting August-September 2007).

Of a total of 300 hours, students will attend the final term in May, that covers 100 hours of classes over 15 days at the BIMTECH campus. The main 200 hours will be taught by faculty members from both universities, who will deliver lectures via video-conferencing, from 252 Reliance World stores in 105 cities.

Accordingly, the course can be taken by as many as 2,500 executive students. Since students will be in the stores when professors teach, classes will be interactive. Admission and exams will be conducted online. Visit www.bimtech.ac.in for more information.

You may also consider applying for admission to the three-month programmes in retail store operations management and retail buying and merchandising management of the Indian Retail School, New Delhi. These are part-time programmes for working people.

Alternatively, you may wish to apply for admission to the one-year full-time postgraduate programme in retail management offered by the same school. The programme has three levels, consisting of 720 hours of contact classes and 240 hours of project work. If you are found eligible on the basis of your application, you will need to qualify in an entrance examination conducted by Indian Retail School, and in a group discussion and an interview. Admission is based strictly on merit. Visit www.indianretailschool.com for more information.

No escape from maths

• Q: I have heard that soft skills are more important for getting into top business schools in the US and that they don’t give much weightage to maths, unlike in India. Is this true? I am not good at maths. Please advise.

Diwakar Sethia

• A: Soft skills such as interpersonal relations, negotiation, leadership and so on are desirable but academic business teaching remains underpinned by hefty quantitative
analysis (this is especially true in the US).

Most business schools require students to have previously studied quantitative subjects, notably calculus. So there is no refuge for those who cannot add two and two.

To gain admission to most US business schools, you’ll be required to take the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) which includes a section on quantitative ability. You must be good at maths to pass the GMAT.

To register for the test, you can visit www.mba.com.

Wealth of information on health

• Q: I am a qualified nutritionist. Where can I study health journalism in India?

M.K. Nayar

• A: Although masters in health journalism programmes are offered at a number of universities in the UK and the US, they are not being offered yet in India.

But next year, health journalism will be offered as part of the two-year masters in public health (MPH) programme at the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh.

The course, which is awaiting clearance from the authorities, is being introduced in response to the realisation that journalists writing on health problems should not only have a minimum understanding of the issues, but should also be sensitive to them. Many health-related issues such as female foeticide, HIV, tuberculosis, hiked prices of life-saving drugs, substandard medicines and drug addiction, require sustained, sensible and sensitive media attention.

The programme, which is open to both medical and non-medical graduates, will fulfil a deeply felt need for health journalists.

For more information on the programme, write to the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research, Sector-12, Chandigarh-160012. You can call 172-2747585 or e-mail pgimer@chd. nic.in. You can also visit www. pgimer. nic.in for information.

If you wish to study health journalism in the US, you could consider applying for admission to the masters in health journalism programme at the University of Minnesota.

You will have to send the completed departmental application form, a statement of objectives, transcripts from each institution attended at the undergraduate and graduate levels, the GRE general test scores, unless exempted by the director of graduate studies, three letters of recommendation, one of which must come from an employer or from a faculty member familiar with your work in health sciences, a writing sample and TOEFL scores.

For more information, contact the program coordinator, MA in health journalism, at hjournal @umn.edu or write to the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, 111 Murphy Hall, University of Minnesota, 206 Church St SE, Minneapolis, MN-55455, US.