Bangalore has beaten Paris and Beijing to be the first city outside of the US to hold programmes by Stanford Graduate School of Business.
The Silicon Valley-based business school will start its Stanford Ignite programme for professionals at the Infosys Campus in the city in August. It means professionals looking for part-time management courses from Stanford can avail of them sitting right here in the city.
Blair R Shane, associate dean, Knight Management Center, Stanford University, says Bangalore was selected mainly for three reasons: “Firstly, it has a critical mass of engineers and people with technical expertise, exactly the kind of candidates we are looking for. There are many entrepreneurs here than other places, something just like in Silicon Valley. And Bangalore, like India, has a growing economy.”
After Bangalore, Stanford will take their programme to Paris in September and Beijing next year.
The programme is mainly for professionals with roughly 5-15 years work experience and who are from backgrounds like engineering, medicine and physics. Even individuals currently enrolled in master’s, PhD, MD or any other postgraduate and non-business programmes can get enrolled.
However, says Shane, the programme is not open to professionals who currently have a background in business or have an MBA.
“Basically for people with an entrepreneurial and innovative bent of mind. For those who want to start out on their own or even those who plan to develop products within their existing corporations are all welcome,” says Bethany Coates, acting assistant dean, global innovation programs, Stanford University.
For their first batch Stanford is looking for about 30-50 candidates. If it attains successful conclusion, we can look at making it an annual programme for Bangalore, says Coates, “and later also take it ahead to other metros in India.”
In the US, Ignite, which has been running for seven years, sees about 140-150 candidates participating annually.
Coates says 30-50 is a reasonable number to start off in Bangalore and could increase going ahead. “Along with getting to learn business from Stanford, candidates can also interact and network with Stanford alumni and professors,” says Shane.
source: http://www.dnaindia.com / DNA / Home> Bangalore> Report / by DNA Correspondent / Place:Bangalore, Agency:DNA / Thursday – May 02nd, 2013