Pune: The University of Oxford, one of the most sought after academic institutions in the world, is all set to roll out its first set of courses in the country that too in the city’s backyard, in 2010. The varsity will introduce short-term management courses for middle and senior-level executives at Lavasa city a few hours’ drive away from Mumbai.

The courses, which start in June 2010, will be a crucial step for the university. "We will first assess the courses once they begin here, and progress further when they have succeeded’ John Hood, the University's vice-chancellor, said during a visit to Lavasa city on Friday.

The courses to be offered will be full-time programmes of a few weeks’ duration. "We are looking at introducing 20 courses with a target of 5,000 students within the next five years," said Rajgopal Nogia, Lavasa Corporation president. The India Business Centre at Oxford, where various lndian business models are researched and taught, will contribute to designing these courses. "Parts of this research will be included in the curricula of the short-term courses that we are introducing here in India," Hood said.

Note: The presence of a reputed University like Oxford automatically brings value to the Lavasa project. With the course targeting 5,000 students in the next five years, top level executives will be attracted to it. The launch of these courses by Oxford University besides the other developments already taking shape in Lavasa, ultimately brings value to investors.