India is widely known for producing extremely talented and competent professionals all around the world. The news today is the decision to appoint India born Nitin Nohria as the next dean of the prestigious Harvard Business School (HBS). He is going to be the first Indian and in fact the first non-white to serve the position in the long 102 years history of HBS. Harvard Business School ranks among top 3 B-schools globally and is planning to establish its presence in India soon.
India has been endowing the globe with world class leaders and the latest is Nitin Nohria who will be the 10th dean of HBS assuming office from July 1. He gives credit to IIT Bombay for making him think ‘out-of-box’ and feels indebted to his alma mater even today at the age of 48. Nohria did bachelors in chemical engineering from IIT-B in 1984 and a PhD in management from the Sloan School of Management at MIT in 1988. He then moved to join HBS faculty as an assistant professor and is the Richard P Chapman Professor of Business Administration today. Nohria has co-authored and co-edited at least 12 books with his colleague Rakesh Khurana.
Anand Mahindra, vice-chairman of Mahindra and Mahindra and a Harvard graduate says “Nitin’s appointment is an advertisement to the world about the quality of human resource and talent in India”. It reinforces the fact that our country has international level of education system that creates talent for global markets. But, there is a need to turn the prestigious Indian Universities in India into institutes like Harvard that focus not on demand but knowledge.
Nohria has made not only his father proud but the entire country and its education system. These achievements proves and strengthens the academic superiority of India.