Harvard B-school keen on more classes in India, says dean Nohria

Nitin Nohria, dean of the Harvard Business School of Boston, Massachusetts, said in Mumbai on Thursday that HBS will invest in creating a classroom for conducting its executive development programmes (EDP) in Mumbai within the next two years.

Though the ivy league college has no plans to set up a full-fledged campus – which government policy now allows - it is keen to build a proper setting for its numerous EDPs, which have so far been conducted largely in hotels.

''We plan to do more EDPs in India in the coming years and need to give the classrooms an authentic feel,'' said Nohria, who is in Mumbai as part of a world tour covering five cities where HBS has research centres.

Nohria made history when on 1 July he became the first dean of Indian origin in the 102-year history of the Harvard Business School. He has co-authored or co-edited 16 books and authored over 75 journal articles, book chapters, cases, working papers, and notes. His most recent book Paths to Power chronicles how leaders from different backgrounds rose to power in American business.

Nohria said that HBS is not in the business of competing with Indian b-schools in the mainstream MBA programmes, but it will certainly be doing more research in India and conducting more EDPs. ''The two have a strong link since the executive programmes allow our faculty to engage with Indian companies, which is essential for research,'' he said.

The difference between HBS and the average b-school offering an MBA degree lies in the original research that the former does, said Nohria.