Virginia B-school to begin programmes in India

MUMBAI: Close on the heels of Harvard Business School's announcement of launching its executive education programmes in India, the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business has expressed similar intent.
Robert Bruner, the dean of the Darden School, who was here on a visit, says, "We want to reach out to Indian institutions of higher education and form partnerships to deliver our programmes in India."
Unlike Harvard, which is going to deliver its programmes as a standalone, Darden, which is ranked at No 4 in BusinessWeek's annual business school ranking, is looking at entering India through the partnership model.But why?
Explains Bruner, "We believe there is a great value to indigenous business practices and cultural understanding. We have a number of ethnic Indians on our faculty but the truth is that we are not so self-confident to believe that we can anticipate the specific needs and cultural practices that businesses face in India."
During his visit Bruner has spoken to several potential partners. He says, "The challenge is to find a partner who carries the same philosophy of education and has very high quality standards, consistent with our view."
He adds, "I would like to find partners who also bring insights to the table in terms of content or instruction. Part of the issue any school faces in terms of globalization is to ask the question how are we stronger by going out of our own territory."
To begin with, Darden is looking at offering non-degree executive programmes in India. The degree programmes are also a potential opportunity.
Apart from that, Darden is also setting up a research centre in India. The institute's dean explains, "The idea is to establish an office to house on-the-ground researchers and be a magnet to our faculty to come and conduct both scholarly research and produce teaching case studies."
Incidentally, Darden is the second-largest producer of teaching case studies in the world after Harvard Business School. "Our attempt is to establish research centres that will turbo-charge the engagement of our faculty and students with India," he adds.
By doing so we can contribute to developing our thinking," he adds.
The school has still not made a commitment to the city on where the centre will be located in, the amount of staffing, or the financial resources being committed to it. But the plan is to set it up between 12-18 months.
But why is Darden so keen on stepping its presence in India?
Says Bruner, "India is one of the hottest economic markets in the world. It is a market of great discipline, unlike the overheated nature of the Chinese capital markets. India's foundation, rule of law, parliamentary institutions, incredible innovativeness and entrepreneurship make it a good market for business schools interested in global best practices."