India high on Stanford Varsity radar

India is getting stronger on Stanford University's radar.

A number of students from the university's Graduate School of Business (GSB) will shortly be coming to India for internships as the school is in talks with Indian corporates and manufacturing companies to facilitate the same.

It is also exploring avenues for tie-ups with other B-schools in India. The school recently tied up with IIM Bangalore (IIM-B) to launch the Stanford-IIM-B student exchange programme which will start from next academic year.

IIM-B and Stanford Business School each year admit about 240 and 375 MBA students, respectively.

As part of the programme, Stanford Business students will go to IIM-B for a period of one week (September 16-22, 2007), and IIM-B students will visit Stanford Business School for one week (December 2-8, 2007).

In subsequent years, the programme will expand to 20 students from each institution. Exchange visits will be organised along three core aspects "" academics, business, and social activities. Mukesh Ambani, MD, Reliance Industries has offered to bear 75 per cent of the travel expenses of IIM-B students.

Components of the programme are expected to include visits to locally based companies, readings, presentations, classroom interaction et al.

"Beginning with the next incoming class, every MBA student at Stanford will be required to participate in an international experience such as a global study trip, overseas service-learning trip, or international internship and being in India is therefore significant," said Daniel Rudolph, Dean, GSB.

Stanford University has teamed up with National Entrepreneurship Network (NEN) and IIM-B to launch a year-long certificate programme "" Entrepreneur Educators Course. It is the first of its kind in the country and will be taught by faculty members from London Business School, Harvard University and Stanford University to give teachers a global perspective in their pedagogy.

NEN has developed the course in tandem with Stanford University which provides its own faculty to deliver and facilitate the course and recommends and recruits other international faculty. IIM-B will provide the physical infrastructure for the course.

The course, which is a relatively new field for management institutes, will help the faculty understand how to access opportunities for entrepreneurial ventures, understand and forecast the entrepreneurial climate in the country and raise funds. The emphasis will be on changing the faculties' mindset. Over 100 faculty members from management schools across the country have enrolled for the course.

On the other hand, Stanford University's School of Engineering is also exploring opportunities with Indian engineering colleges and is currently in talks with Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and Indian Institutes of Technology for academic tie ups.

To get more global content in the curriculum, develop a better understanding of the Indian business culture and develop more case studies, the GSB will organise a Stanford faculty study trip to India in the next couple of years where the Stanford faculty will interact with Indian faculty members.

GSB will also be establishing a Centre for South Asia on its California campus. The centre will focus on the growing influence of South Asia in the global economy particularly India and China and will conduct studies across all disciplines"" from Sciences to humanities. Currently 493 Indian students are studying in Stanford University.

GSB will launch a new MBA curriculum in September this year. The new curriculum is developed to make the students understand complex managerial issues and give the students a global experience. Stanford however, has no plans to set up a campus in India.