December 2005

Global Business
Subash Bijlani on India

By Stefanie Johnson
Special to FYI Online

Subash Bijlani

Subash Bijlani has a unique global perspective. He has visited more than 35 countries and works diligently to understand the myriad ways in which business and academia are intertwined. But one country holds a special place in his heart for good reason. India.

“I have been very fortunate to stride several continents, careers, and cultures,” says Bijlani. “I am excited to bring my strong network with industry associations, companies, and schools in India to UMUC.

Since January, Bijlani has served as professor of practice for the Master of Business Administration, International, and Executive programs in UMUC’s Graduate School of Management and Technology. He is also president of Magnus Consulting Pvt. Ltd., a company he founded in India that provides management consultancy and training, and was CEO of the Indian subsidiary of Molins, PLC, in the United Kingdom for more than 20 years.

Bijlani is excited that emerging multinational corporations in India will provide UMUC projects to be studied in graduate business programs.

“I want to see our students at U.S. corporations work with their counterparts in business schools in India and other countries,” he said. “This will bring an even stronger global perspective to our programs and help to establish international networks.”

Ties between India and the United States have strengthened rapidly these past years, and new partnerships take advantage of the respective strengths of the two economies. India provides great opportunities for UMUC, too, and as one of the world’s leading universities in distance education, UMUC can have a strong presence in the country.

“India is quietly moving to occupy a dominant position, not just in IT-related services but in a number of sectors, including automotives, health care, and telecommunications,” Bijlani remarked. “There is also growing creativity and appreciation of intellectual property rights. This is reflected by the increased number of filings for U.S. patents by Indian companies. The growing dynamism and potential is also reflected in the demographics: over 50 percent of India’s population is under 25 years of age.”

Of course, Bijlani speaks from a personal perspective as well. During his childhood, the country went through an historic freedom struggle under Gandhi against British rule. In 1947, independence brought division of the country and the creation of Pakistan. The city where Bijlani was born—Thatta, Sind—is located near Karachi, the former capital of Pakistan.

“Traveling to so many places made me more sensitive to intercultural issues,” says Bijlani. “A truly global outlook is not just to see the world through your own eyes but also through others’ eyes, including those of emerging economies.”

Not surprisingly, Bijlani has chaired and served on numerous committees at both the federal and state levels, helping to evolve policies for technology, human resource development, intellectual property, and trade. Bijlani also led major initiatives in enhancing the quality of education.

“I have always had an interest in education,” he said. “Globalization has brought increased pressures on performance, and the competitive advantage of nations, of companies, and educational institutions depends upon the quality of their people. We are all born with the same raw materials, but somehow—particularly in developing countries—the quality of instruction does not even make some people employable.”

It is these concerns that lured Bijlani out of the boardroom and into the classroom. As a result, he has served on boards of governors and as an adjunct professor at universities in India and the United States before joining the UMUC faculty as executive in resident in 2003.

“In 2002 I had my first conversation with Sal Monaco about the growing pressures globalization was placing on adult learning,” Bijlani remembers. “We need to bring global leadership into our learning. I enormously enjoy partnering with faculty and business leaders from the U.S. and across the globe to improve quality of learning and to develop programs because this is what I believe will help to establish new networks and partnerships, enhance competitiveness, and therefore bring enormous value to UMUC.”

Consequently, connections between UMUC and India are expanding. In September, Michael Evanchik, chair of graduate Business and Executive Programs, spoke in India at the National Technology Summit, an annual meeting which Bijlani helped to initiate over a decade ago. While there, Evanchik also addressed and chaired sessions at the meeting of the Global Network of Mega Universities.

“We have increased our visibility in that part of the world more than ever before,” says Bijlani. “We want to establish linkages and alliances in India, and it is my hope that we will also attract students and business people to Maryland. As a state university, that is our calling.”