Recently though, the University of Texas at Austin business school decided to stop taking money from tobacco companies for research and student activities including career fairs. According to the school, students generally supported the decision.

Indias leading management portal MBAUniverse.com has tied-up with UK based Thinkers 50, to present this global ranking. Read on to discover what makes these two such icons.

Tom Peters: Excellence activist
Tom Peters (b. 1942) is a native of Baltimore. He studied engineering at Cornell, before heading to the west coast to get his MBA and PhD at Stanford. He saw active service in the Vietnam War with the US Navy. In the mid 1970s he joined McKinsey as a consultant, leaving in 1981 to set up his own firm, now part of the Tom Peters Group.

Both institutions have agreed to work together in the areaof faculty exchange, joint executive development programmes, research and case development. Mr F. Estrada, President of AIM was present for the occasion of signing ceremony.

the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has expressed confidence and optimism that this year too we will be able to sustain 9% growth and hold the price line at acceptable levels, even in face of global slowdown. The Finance and Commerce Ministries are seized of the concerns over the global slowdown, the Prime Minister said while inaugurating the 80th Annual General Meeting of FICCI on February 15. He added that the domestic economy has the potential to sustain growth.

GBSs EMBA is worlds first executive MBA programme, first offered in 1943, and is targeted at mid-level executives. The programme is currently being run in three locations Chicago, London and Singapore, with about 90 seats in each location.

GSB held two information sessions in India earlier this week. The first session was held in Bangalore on February 12 and the second session was held in New Delhi on February 14. These sessions were attended by over hundred working executives.

Noticing this fact, SP Jain Institute of Management & Research (SPJIMR), Mumbai organized the Marketing Effectiveness Conclave on February 9. Mr. S. Sivakumar, Chief Executive of ITC agro-business was the keynote speaker on the occasion. The event also hosted the SP Jain Marketing Impact Awards, a competition in which companies presented their marketing initiatives which were judged for the return on marketing investment.

Mr. Azim Premji, Chairman, WIPRO will lay the foundation stone ofthe S.P Kapur Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship on February 19. The governing board members of the centre will include industry heavy-weights like Mr. Azim Premji, Mr. Devinder Brar, Mr. Analjit Singh, Mr. Rajiv Gupta (Carlyle), Mr. H.K.Mittal (Deptt. of Science & Technology), Mr. Sarkar (MSME), Mr. S. Ghosh (NRDC), Dr. Surinder Kapur and Dr. Sujit Basu, Director, MDI.

This year, the average stipend on campus has increased 20% from last year. According to SIBIM Pune, This years average salary was Rs. 10.38 lakhs p.a. and median salary stood at Rs 9.62 lakhs p.a. The highest international offer was made by Olam International at $85,000, while the highest domestic offer stood at Rs14 lakhs p.a., which was up by nearly 35% from last years level. According to SIBM, The lowest accepted salary was Rs 7 lakhs p.a. The number of offers above Rs10 lakhs p.a. touched an figure of 53.

In the first Regional Final on February 17, the city champions from Punjab and Haryana will compete in the Chandigarh leg. The Lucknow final will see the champs from rest of North India, while the Mumbai leg will be for all champs from the city itself. On February 21, the east zone champs will compete in the Kolkata Regional Final. The Delhi, Ahmedabad and Jaipur finals are scheduled for February 23. The last of the Regional Finals are scheduled for February 24 at Pune and Bangalore.

The award ceremony was held in the capital on February 12. The young leader award in the field of business was conferred to Mr R Subramanian, Founder of Retail company Subhiksha.

An annual feature, Indian Institute of Management Lucknow confers two awards one to a Leader and another to a Young achiever. These awards are given in three categories including Business, Science &Technology, and Community Service & Social Upliftment.