Top B-schools tune in to emerging markets for global intelligence

Leading B-schools across the world are increasingly developing new curriculum with a focus on courses for emerging markets  – of which India happens to be one of the leading destinations.

So far, world’s top business schools have introduced various global experience-oriented courses that offer India as one of the emerging locations among others. These schools include Harvard Business School (HBS), London Business School (LBS), Chicago Booth School of Business, Saïd Business School and so on.

Last week, about 70 second-year MBA students from LBS visited Mumbai on a weeklong trip, as a part of new curriculum introduced by LBS – Global Business Experience (GBE). GBE offers MBA students to choose from five emerging locations around the world to gain learning experience.

Similarly, last month, the Oxford Executive MBA (EMBA) programme by Said Business School, a 21-month part-time modular programme designed for senior professionals, conducted their first module in Bangalore.

Nearly 300 students from Chicago Booth went on 25 global trips in August this year, led by 100 second-year trip leaders. The school will hold their first emerging markets summit in April this year, wherein students involved in the emerging markets group along with those in groups involved in Latin America, South Asia, Africa, Asia-Pacific and other regions, would come together.

HBS also conducts a similar programme called FIELD (field immersion experiences for leadership development) that requires students to soak in global markets in an effort to increase global intelligence. It is a first year course that spans a full academic year, wherein students travel to a global setting they have never been before and understand the market.

With these new global interaction curriculums, the business schools attempt to put the students in an out of their comfort zone, where they have to act, make decisions and work with global counterparts.