Maryland Smith Launches Dual Degree Graduate Program

Business School Partners with India’s SPJIMR

Aug. 14, 2018 (College Park, Md.) — A new partnership with India’s S.P. Jain Institute of Management & Research will give the University of Maryland its first dual degree graduate program with an institution outside the Maryland system. Participants will earn a Master of Quantitative Finance from Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business and a Global Management Program Certificate from SPJIMR, a leading business school in Mumbai.

Both institutions are members of the Global Business School Network, a nonprofit alliance that connects public, private and social sector organizations with more than 70 business schools on six continents.

“The partnership will broaden Maryland’s outreach in India and provide a template for other dual degree programs,” says Rebecca Bellinger, executive director at the Smith School’s Center for Global Business. “This is the first of what we hope will be several partnership programs with prestigious institutions abroad.”

The Center for Global Business worked closely with Smith finance professor Nagpurnanand R. Prabhala to bring the partnership to Maryland. “He’s well connected in India,” Bellinger says. “He saw an opportunity to do something special and became a champion of the partnership.”

Besides growing the Maryland brand in India, the partnership will benefit existing Smith students by expanding their access to global perspectives. “This partnership is exactly what the Center for Global Business is about,” Bellinger says. “It will help internationalize our programs and enhance the learning environment in the classroom.”

Starting in fall 2018, participants in the dual degree program will earn 12 graduate credits at SPJIMR and then transfer to Maryland Smith for 24 additional credits over two semesters. As a STEM-eligible program, the Master of Quantitative Finance will allow international graduates to apply for an additional two years of practical training, which will give them more time to live and work in the United States.

“Dual degree students will go through the same application process as at-large students in our quantitative finance program, and they will get the same credential,” Bellinger says.

SPJIMR's Global Management Program, launched in 2010, is designed to stand alone or stack with degree programs around the world. Besides Maryland Smith, other SPJIMR partners include Brandeis International Business School in Massachusetts, EBS Business School in Germany, IÉSEG School of Management in France and Nyenrode Business Universiteit in the Netherlands.