Jamshedpur, Dec. 20: Foreigners could give tough competition to Indian students for a seat at XLRI. Considered as one of the toughest B-school entrance tests — XLRI Admission Test (XAT) — is all set to travel offshore.

Come 2009, XAT would be conducted simultaneously in six South East Asian countries, including India. The move, however, comes in the wake of the B-school entering into a partnership with Philippines-based Asian Institute of Management (AIM).

“We have decided to enter into a strategic partnership and thus decided that XAT would be conducted in the Philippines and its neighbouring countries. Moreover, AIM would also accept XAT scores,” Fr N. Casimir Raj, the director of XLRI told The Telegraph.

It is for the first time that XAT would be conducted abroad and a foreign B-school would accept XAT scores. Generally, XAT is conducted in the beginning of January each year in 32 cities and its scores are accepted by over 40 B-schools across the country.

XLRI is popular for its two flagship courses — business management (BM) and personnel management and industrial relations (PM&IR).

“A few years ago both the institutes had decided to launch a few student exchange programmes but now we are taking our partnership to a higher level,” added Raj.

That’s not all. AIM would also take on the onus of popularising XAT and XLRI in its neighbouring countries. The deal, which was finalised recently, would be signed in January 2008.

When asked about the seat distribution and changes in the number of intakes, the director said: “Initially we are looking at taking around 10 foreign students for both the courses and if the need arises a few more students could also be accepted on merit basis.”

With an intake of 120 for BM and 65 for PM&IR, the B-school is looking at increasing the number of seats for the latter by 60 and has applied to the AICTE for the same. The director said that the apex body has agreed to grant the extra seats and soon a team from AICTE would visit the institution for a final inspection.

The marriage between the two premier B-schools would also see the beginning of several short term programmes in countries other than India and the Philippines. “This is an alliance between two most renowned B-schools in Asia and therefore we thought why not launch courses which would be beneficial to students and corporates from other regions,” said the director.

Both XLRI and AIM would also take on joint research programmes on developmental issues and students and faculties would have to pursue at least three to four joint case studies annually.

The two institutes would release an annual business journal on the lines of the Harvard Business Review.