Mumbai: Stanford University's Graduate School of Business has teamed with the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) to launch the Stanford-IIMB Exchange Program, to be offered starting next academic year to 16 graduate business students at each institution.

"International student exchanges such as this Stanford-IIMB programme will contribute to the expanded global offerings in the new curriculum we will put in place in fall of 2007," said Dan Rudolph, senior associate dean of the Stanford Graduate School of Business, here today.

"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."

Rudolph introduced a two-day multidisciplinary executive education program jointly sponsored by the schools of Business and Engineering at Stanford. This first-of-its-kind 'Stanford executive education programmme' has drawn nearly 200 business leaders, corporate leaders, Stanford alumni.

"In recognition of the growing importance of managing across cultures in a global economy, this initiative will provide for unique cross-cultural learning of business and management in the US and India," said V "Seenu" Srinivasan, the 'Adams distinguished professor of management' at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and one of the architects of the programme.

Srinivasan and G. Shainesh, associate professor of marketing at IIMB and the programme's co-architect, signed the memorandum of understanding in Bangalore.

"We expect this programme of hosting and exchange to foster strong, lifelong relationships between future business leaders throughout India, America, and the world," said Shainesh.

According to Prakash Apte, director, IIMB, "We are pleased to be the first postgraduate institution in India to partner with Stanford Business School in an academic program within its MBA curriculum. We have much in common, including our location in the technology and entrepreneurship centers of our respective countries. Also, we share an underlying belief that world-class business leaders are not mass-produced, but nurtured and developed in strategically small teams and classes."

IIMB and Stanford Business School each year admit about 240 and 375 MBA students, respectively.

In the programme's inaugural year, 16 students from each school will work together in eight small teams of four students, two from each school. In subsequent years, the programme will expand to 20 students from each institution.

In a sequential two-way exchange, Stanford Business students will go to IIMB for a period of one week (September 16-22, 2007), and IIMB students will visit Stanford Business School for one week (December 2-8, 2007).

Exchange visits will be organised along three core Aspects - academics, business, and social activities. Components of the programme are expected to include visits to locally based companies, readings, presentations, classroom interaction, and lectures delivered by faculty, business professionals, and possibly public-sector leaders. The program will conclude with student presentations during the IIMB students' visit to Stanford.

This represents the second international student exchange programme for the Stanford Graduate School of Business. In the 2005-2006 academic year, the Stanford-Tsinghua Exchange Program was launched in partnership with the School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University in Beijing.