Columbia Business School sets sights on India; deepens alignment with IIM-A

CBS dean Glenn Hubbard announced this partnership during a conference on the world economy on 19th February at New Delhi (that was held in collaboration with the Confederation of Indian Industry). He said, We are keen to include Indian case studies in our business and management courses. This way our curriculum will become distinct in its approach as not many US business schools have an Indian component in their style syllabi. The aim is to bring Indian business practices to the US and vice-versa. We are looking at IIMs for our partnership.

The announcement was made in the presence of prominent Indian business and government leaders like finance minister P. Chidambaram, minister of commerce and industry Kamal Nath, vice president of CII and chairman of Bharti Sunil Mittal, and Columbia Universitys Jagdish Bhagwati.

CBSs recent partnership with IIM Ahemdabad for exchange programs -- at both faculty and student levels -- was one of many efforts by the school to deepen its relationship with India. As Hubbard pointed out, Our interests are well aligned, and now is the perfect time to take full advantage of that. Our partnership reflects our mutual interest in entrepreneurship, a shared worldview and a joint quest for innovation in a rapidly changing world,
CBS and IIM-A will design and host an international study program for students of both institutes. The two schools also anticipate sharing corporate case studies and collaborating on new case development through faculty exchanges and fresh research.

The proposed exchange of students, faculty and ideas will reinforce our allied interests and provide a broader understanding of the global nature of business for students from both the renowned institutions, said Bakul Dholakia, director of IIM-A. We welcome Columbia Business School to India and look forward to developing this partnership in the future.

In the foreseeable future, CBS will host a series of events focused on India. In March, the CBSs Executive MBA Program will host its first international seminar, Building and Managing Customer Relationships, in Mumbai. Accompanied by Professor Hitendra Wadhwa, 40 CBS students will participate in the seminar. On April 6, the Schools South Asia Business Association (SABA) is hosting its 3rd Annual India Business Conference. And later that month, the Social Enterprise Program is sponsoring a research symposium on microfinance that will feature Professor Suresh Sundaresan -- the Chase Manhattan Bank Foundation Professor of Financial Institutions, who is working on a microfinance project in conjunction with the Centre for Microfinance Research in Chennai.

According to Hubard, these events will build on Columbias successes over the past year, such as Octobers three day conference, India-An Emerging Giant, which featured discussions about ongoing developments in the Indian economy and its role in global commence. As part of CBSs third annual Chazen International Tour, 38 MBA students traveled to Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore between December 26, 2006 and January 6, 2007, visiting alumni, businesses and government officials, added Hubard.

The relationship between India and Columbia University goes back a long way. B.R. Ambedkar, the architect of the Indian Constitution, earned a PhD in political science from the University in 1916. The University boasts a large Indian alumni base, expansive scholarships in the region and significant policy contributions to contemporary India. Recently, Lee Bollinger and Professor Bhagwati announced plans to launch the Center for the Study of the Indian Economy, further inspiring and supporting India studies at Columbia.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh praised the Universitys growing relationship with India in a letter that was read out by Professor Bhagwati at the conference in New Delhi. I am happy to note that Columbia Business School, under the leadership of Dean Glenn Hubbard, plans to focus specially on India, in its research and teaching programs, the Prime Minister wrote. Our government will be happy to support any initiative that will strengthen the academic and intellectual relationship between our two countries.