Mumbai: The Indian Institutes of Technology at Kanpur and Madras, together with the Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata have launched a post-graduate programme for enhancing skills of middle-level personnel in the manufacturing sector.

The one-year post-graduate programme, called ''Executives in Manufacturing for Visionary Leadership'', has been designed in consultation with industry body CII, National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council and Japanese International Cooperation Agency.

The programme, which would commence from August, includes course work at IIM-C, IIT-K and IIT-M, along with industry internship and international and domestic industry tours.

The eligibility for admission is a first class degree in any branch of engineering along with at least five years of experience in manufacturing and related sectors. The tuition fee for the programme would be Rs5 lakh.

"This is the first occasion when the Indian Institute of Technology and Indian Institute of Management have joined hands to run a post-graduate programme. The programme is expected to generate 300 visionary leaders in manufacturing field in the next three years," NMCC chairman V Krishnamurthy said.

This programme would help train executives to become leaders and increase competitiveness in the manufacturing sector and thereby help provide better goods and services, he said.

The manufacturing sector has recorded an encouraging 12 per cent growth but to sustain this level efforts have to be made to enhance skills, besides putting in a huge amount of investment, Krishnamurthy added.

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