Mumbai: JLL, India’s leading property consulting firm, today (26 July 2016) announced a strategic partnership with leading private university NMIMS to offer a specialization in ‘Real Estate Consulting & Transaction Services’ to technology management students. Delivered through MPSTME, the Technology Management School of NMIMS, the courses in this specialization will be co-designed and integrated into the 5-year MBA (Tech.) program.

Anuj Puri, Chairman & Country Head of JLL India, said, ” Considering importance of the real estate sector from economic point of view, It is essential for candidates who intend to work in this sector to possess industry-specific skill sets. This innovative and highly customized specialization will serve this purpose.” JLL is also extending scholarships and will offer placement assistance to meritorious students emerging successfully from this program, said Anuj Puri.

With about 7.8% contribution to India’s GDP, the real estate sector is the second-largest employment generator in the country. India has also moved up the rankings in the recent JLL Global Real Estate Transparency Index. This sector will post significant growth in the coming years as the government has taken various government initiatives such as the Real Estate Regulatory Act (RERA), setting up of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs).

Dr. Sharad Mhaiskar, Dean of NMIMS’s Mukesh Patel School of Technology Management & Engineering, said, “We are excited to launch this specialization in partnership with JLL India, with an aim to arm them with the skills for successful careers in the thriving real estate sector. This co-created management program will enable our students to differentiate themselves within the industry and assume growth-oriented roles in this sector.”

This corporate-academic initiative is also in line with the government of India’s Skill India Program. The 5-year MBA (Tech.) program aims to provide ample opportunities for appropriate training to take advantage of the demographic dividend and plug the gap of high-quality, formal institutional academic program and pedagogy for the Indian realty sector. Most of these skills have been historically acquired through ‘on-the-job’ learning.