The Indian and Japanese governments, industry and academia have joined hands for an executive programme in manufacturing to be taught at IIM Calcutta and two IITs.

The Postgraduate Programme for Executives for Visionary Leadership in Manufacturing has been launched jointly by the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, and the Indian Institutes of Technology, Kanpur and Madras. It will enjoy support from the Japanese government.

“This is a special programme in a special year, the 60th year of Indian Independence and the Japan-India friendship year,” said Noro Motoyoshi, the consul-general of Japan, at the launch of the programme on Monday.

The programme, with 30 students this year, will receive support of the Japanese government through the Japanese International Cooperation Agency. It will facilitate lectures by Japanese manufacturing experts and visits to Japanese centres of manufacturing and training of Indian faculty.

Shoji Shiba, recognised across the world as a leading expert in Total Quality Management, will be part of the faculty for the programme. He referred to the programme as “a unique experiment, perhaps for the first time”.The one-year, full-time residential programme is for engineers with a minimum of five years’ work experience. The fee is Rs 5 lakh.

The course was launched under the aegis of the National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council and the central human resources development ministry, with support of the industry.

The curriculum, pedagogy, and modalities of the programme have been designed by IIM Calcutta, IIT Kanpur and IIT Madras, in consultation with the Confederation of Indian Industry.

The students who have enrolled are managers, deputy managers and general managers of companies like Maruti Udyog, Tata Motors, Apollo Tyres and Reliance industries.