For many a bright professional, the world over, a dream is to be admitted to the Harvard Business School. The venerable school celebrates 100 years in 2008. It’s mission: “We educate leaders who make a difference in the world”.
Guess which country sends most candidates (after the US of A of course) for the Harvard regular MBA program? That honour goes to India which sent as many as 38 students for the batch of 2009 made up of 900 students. HBS assistant director in MBA career services, Kurt Piemonte said, “Increasingly, we find Indian students want to head back to the country to pursue their careers. There is a real interest in India and the trend of returning to India to work is catching up. The number of students who have not been in the US before and want to return to India to work is rising.”
India already has a strong presence in the teaching side with 15 % of the HBS Faculty being Indians or of Indian origin.
Also, as part of its plan to globalise its curriculum, in 2005, HBS opened the India Research Center (IRC) in Mumbai, one of the six research units across the world. The research centre will help build HBS’s knowledge about the Indian economy and the corporate sector through case studies and original research work.
These are clearly positive by-products of the greater interest evinced in the Indian economy by almost everyone-including the Harvard Business School.