Established in 2009, Universal Business School, Karjat is a wholly residential B-school, two hours drive from Mumbai, dispensing contemporary international business management education in association with several globally top-ranked offshore universities – Dipta Joshi

Spread across 40 acres in a pristine valley near Karjat, a two-hour drive from India’s commercial capital Mumbai, the Universal Business School (UBS, estb.2009) is a wholly residential B-school dispensing contemporary international business management education to 480 students from 20 countries. Ranked among Mumbai’s Top 5 B-schools by the Times of India and The Week, UBS has established an excellent reputation for its experiential undergrad BBA programme, postgrad diploma and executive development programmes delivered in association with top-ranked foreign universities including the Cardiff Metropolitan University, UK; Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago; Lincoln University, USA; Swiss School of Management, Italy and INSEEC Business School, France.

Founded by the late Gurdip Singh Anand (1942-2019), a highly-respected business management educator with teaching experience in the country’s top-ranked B-schools including Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, S.P. Jain Institute of Management Research (SPJIMR) and Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (all in Mumbai), together with son Tarun, former chairman and MD of Thomson Reuters, South Asia, UBS boasts a stellar board of governors.

Among them: Madhav Kalyan, MD & CEO, JP Morgan, South Asia; Motilal Oswal, chairman, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, and Dr. Indira Parikh, former dean, IIM-Ahmedabad. The school’s 30-strong faculty is highly qualified with seven of them serving as advisory council members of the globally-respected Harvard Business Review.

“In UBS, our prime objective is to provide contemporary, experiential and industry aligned business management education to enable our students to mature into ethical, global business leaders capable of building strong and resilient organisations while adhering to the highest standards of corporate governance,” says Tarun Anand, an alum of the Tuck Business School (USA), Michigan Ross School of Business (USA), IE Business School (Spain) and SPJIMR (India).

Currently, UBS offers the undergrad BBA and BA degree programmes, postgrad MBA and PGDM (postgrad diploma in management) in collaboration with Cardiff Metropolitan University, UK; Masters in business analytics with the University of Dallas, US; the MBA programme of the Swiss School of Management, Italy; and a Global MBA (Cardiff, IIM-Indore and UBS). Other international higher ed partners include INSEEC Business School, France and University of Economics, Bulgaria.

With the Covid-19 pandemic still rampaging across the country and around the world, the school is offering its executive programmes in the digital mode, while 300 students who returned to campus in February are attending in-person classes.

“The defining feature of UBS is not only what we teach but how we teach. The UBS Board of Governors comprising 60 CEOs, directors, and business leaders of top-ranked corporates reviews the school’s academic andragogies and processes twice each year to ensure that our curriculums are in sync with changing industry dynamics and our faculty is up-to-date with latest international pedagogies and business practice. Moreover, we ensure academic rigour through innovative projects and mandatory research assignments by developing students’ social perspectives through a compulsory ten-day on-site rural experience. Our students are industry-ready the moment they graduate and are quickly snapped up by the world’s most respected companies including Deloitte, KPMG and Hindustan Unilever. Last year, UBS attracted a record 310 companies to participate in campus recruitment for final placement and summer internships. UBS graduates received 183 employment offers with 25 students receiving multiple offers at an average annual remuneration of Rs.8.13 lakh,” says Anand.

To provide its students a holistic education experience, the UBS management has liberally invested in campus infrastructure and facilities. Set amidst rolling green hills, this latter-day B-school’s sprawling campus is equipped with a main academic block housing 130-seat amphitheatre-style classrooms fitted with V-Sat connectivity to facilitate lectures by international faculty and touch screen interactive boards. The wholly residential B-school hosts seven hostels and a two-floor cafeteria which serves meals prepared from organic produce grown on-campus.

Sports facilities include an indoor sports centre with a fully-equipped gym, health and yoga centre, movie theater and lounge, facilities for table tennis, snooker, pool, carrom and chess. Outdoor sports facilities include a flood-lit football and cricket ground, basketball, volleyball, tennis and badminton courts. Moreover, there are 16 special interest student clubs (innovation, financial, research, marketing and case studies, etc) on campus.

Looking ahead, Anand is enthused by several provisions of the new National Education Policy 2020 to transfer credits, promote interdisciplinary learning, international linkages and its commitment to research. “We are already implementing much of what NEP 2020 advocates and are looking forward to more intensive international linkages. UBS is also preparing to apply for the prestigious Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) international accreditation which is synonymous with the highest standards of excellence. Only six B-schools in India thus far have received AACSB accreditation,” says Anand, who is also drawing up a blueprint to launch a greenfield multi-disciplinary university.

Admission & Fees

Prospective students should apply online https://universalbusinessschool.com/apply-now
Fees (annual)
Undergrad (BBA): Rs.4.28 lakh
Postgrad (MBA): Rs.8.48-11 lakh
Accommodation: Rs.1.78 lakh
For further information, visit https://universalbusinessschool.com/admission-process