Earlier this year the research accomplished Associate Professor duo, Dr. Sahana Roy Chowdhury from the Economics area and Dr. Rituparna Basu from the Marketing area of IMI Kolkata had signed the prestigious European Union’s Erasmus+ teaching agreements to deliver lectures at a top French public University in Paris. The professors were specifically picked up for the practice-led research expertise by the UPEM, Universite Paris-est Marne-la-Vallee for this rare honour to teach their master’s level students in particular.

As per their respective agreements, both the professors were assigned to individually deliver 10 hours of lectures at UPEM and also UPEC for the economics faculty. Dr. Roy Chowdhury addressed students with her lectures on “Economic issues and debates in the Indian labor market”; “Macro-development and fiscal issues in Indian economy: Current scenario”; and also delivered a seminar for the economics department at UPEM on “Financial structure, institutional quality and monetary policy transmission: A Meta Analysis”. Dr. Basu was specifically asked to deliberate on some of her specific research titles and award winning global cases to attune the students with emerging market perspectives on marketing and marketing strategy. Her lecture topics included “Marketing in India”, “Understanding Marketing Strategy: Perspectives on Emerging Market”; Marketing Premium/ Luxury in India” and “Sports Marketing: Strategies and Directions”. Around 250 master level students across specialized courses on economics, luxury management, marketing strategy, sports management programmes were benefitted from the lectures.

The visiting faculties were entrusted with the primary objective of equipping matured University students with global perspectives and cross cultural insights that would help them understand and undertake international projects and assignments. Apart from the teaching deliverables, Roy Chowdhury and Basu were encouraged to collaborate and undertake international research projects with UPEM and UPEC faculty to facilitate sustainable linkages between the institutes and IMI Kolkata. The visiting faculties were highly appreciated for their effort and objective oriented lecture deliveries. Upon perfecting the prestigious Erasmus+ faculty mobility and being one of the first few from the country to have visited the European Union under such mobility teaching agreement, Roy Chowdhury and Basu echoed, “The experience has been enriching and engaging from all aspects of delivery and learning. The Erasmus+ involvement is definitely a fulfilling one as it acknowledges our research relevance in the larger context of global academics and research.”