05 Mar 2008

Harvard Business School Joins 10,000 Women

Goldman Sachs Helps Harvard Business School Improve the Management Education of 10,000 Underserved Women around the World
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BOSTON— Harvard Business School today announced that it will be an initial partner with The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS) of 10,000 Women, a global initiative that will provide 10,000 underserved women, predominantly in developing and emerging markets, with a business and management education. The initiative will invest in a largely untapped yet significant resource - the exponential power of women as entrepreneurs and managers. 10,000 Women establishes relationships between universities in the United States and Europe and business schools in emerging and developing countries to improve the quality and capacity of business education in developing regions around the world. Harvard Business School will work with the Goldman Sachs Fund for Management to help "Teach the Teachers" India, a key element of the Harvard Business School's Global Initiative.

"Teach the Teachers" will provide scholarships for approximately 20-25 faculty from leading Indian business schools to participate in two of Harvard Business School's invitation-only programs, The European Entrepreneurship Colloquium on Participant-Centered Learning (EECPCL) and the Colloquium on Participant-Centered Learning (CPCL). Both programs focus on training key faculty at top business schools in the interactive form of teaching and learning known as the case method. EECPCL centers on entrepreneurship education (July 18th - 25th, 2008) and includes participants from Europe and India, while CPCL is not region specific (July 27th - August 2nd, 2008). Participants include deans, department chairs, and senior faculty.

"We are very grateful for this relationship, which will provide scholarships to faculty members from business schools in India who want to learn about case-method teaching as practiced at Harvard Business School, particularly in the field of entrepreneurship," said Harvard Business School Senior Lecturer Michael Chu. "While entrepreneurship is key at all levels of society, nowhere is it more important than for women and the dispossessed, who often do not have access to the traditional paths to progress and must carve out their own roads. By teaching the teachers to pass on the lessons of management, Harvard Business School will have the opportunity to contribute to the kind of practical education that can change people's lives and help reshape societies."

EECPCL and CPCL train business scholars, many of whom traditionally rely on lectures and textbooks in their classrooms, in a radically different approach: how to lead intensive discussions about real-life business situations or cases. They also learn how to conduct field-based research and write case studies as effective tools for teaching modern management and to incorporate technology into the case method.

"We are delighted to be the beneficiaries of this generous gift from Goldman Sachs. It will contribute greatly to our efforts to work with faculty from prominent Indian business schools who want to learn more about the case method, which has been the hallmark of Harvard Business School's teaching for nearly a century," said Jay Light, Dean of Harvard Business School. "The scholarships the Goldman Sachs Fund provides will enable recipients to hone their skills in case writing, case teaching, and faculty development as they prepare to teach the lessons of effective management, leadership, and entrepreneurship to generations of new students."

Other Initial Partners in Goldman Sach's Initiative include:

  • American University of Afghanistan
  • American University in Cairo
  • Brown University
  • Columbia Business School
  • Indian School of Business
  • Pan-African University, Nigeria
  • School of Finance and Banking, Rwanda
  • Stanford Graduate School of Business
  • Thunderbird School of Global Management
  • United States International University, Kenya
  • University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business
  • Judge Business School, University of Cambridge
  • University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
  • William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan
  • Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania

Delivering Business and Management Education to 10,000 Women

10,000 Women brings together academic partners, development organizations, and Goldman Sachs to support pragmatic, flexible, and shorter-term academic programs, resulting in business and management certificates that can open doors for thousands of women whose financial and practical circumstances prevent them from receiving a traditional business education. There will also be a select number of MBA and BA degrees funded.

In addition to funding tuition for business and management education, 10,000 Women will work with development organizations to better understand the local challenges girls and young women must overcome so that more of them can realize economic opportunity and achieve their full potential. Some of these partnerships will seek to establish mentoring and networking channels for women and encourage career development opportunities.

There will also be a strong focus on developing curricula, creating local case study models, and improving the level of faculty training and expertise, as well as increasing the overall quality of business education.

More detailed information about 10,000 Women can be found at 10000women.org.

About Harvard Business School

Founded in 1908 as part of Harvard University, Harvard Business School is located on a 40-acre campus in Boston. Its faculty of more than 250 offers full-time programs leading to the MBA and PhD degrees, as well as more than 175 Executive Education programs, and Harvard Business School Online, the School’s digital learning platform. For more than a century, faculty have drawn on their research, their experience in working with organizations worldwide, and their passion for teaching, to educate leaders who make a difference in the world. The School and its curriculum attract the boldest thinkers and the most collaborative learners who will go on to shape the practice of business and entrepreneurship around the globe.