Why Indian Students of Management Go Global—and Return Home Changed

Indian students of management have emerged in increasing numbers. At the same time, an increasing number of Indian students go abroad for a management education and return to their country with a newfound sense of perspective and a sense of mission. Although this investment in it in an intellectual and experiential sense is steep, the returns on this investment are very clearly not just personal but also have a transforming impact on the future business climate of a country such as India.

Naveen Tewari, Founder & CEO of InMobi Group, took a different path after completing his graduation in mechanical engineering from IIT Kanpur. A master's degree in America seemed to be the obvious next step or at least this seemed so with research opportunities being offered to him. But a heart-to-heart talk with his father changed his plans. "You will be unhappy in research. You are a person who likes to make things happen," he advised him. So, he accepted an offer from McKinsey, a global consulting firm, which proved to be a major influence in his life.

This was a defining moment. At McKinsey, nearly 18 months of a three-year stint were occupied with a nascent project in 2001-02 called Reliance Infocomm at a time when the digital economy in India had barely gotten off the blocks. With hands-on experience in transformation projects, Tewari joined Harvard Business School to take a class for an MBA degree with a total of 900 students spread over the entire world.

No Isolated Incident This is not an isolated incident among Indians. Hundreds of Indian students are pursuing MBAs from Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, INSEAD, or other premier educational institutions abroad, where course fees far exceed $200,000. Such investments are not exorbitant for a future with far-reaching gains in terms of global network expansion, learning experiences with different background people, exposure to latest learning systems, and making connections in higher authority abroad. More in-depth interviews with returnees show some common threads emerging. A multicultural learning environment, case studies based on learning from dilemmas emerging from the real-world puzzle box, or an imersion in an atmosphere of debate and dissention can make a radical difference in how Indian students think of leadership and risk-taking. "The mindset shift that I think was most evident to me is with regards to risk-taking," says Vartika Bansal, AI Ops Partner at Elevation Capital, a Stanford MBA alumna. "It is far simpler to speak of an experience when you have had it. The danger is not in failing but in failing to try, and this sense of a chase for your wildest dream or experimenting with your potential is a far more satisfying option in terms of fulfillment than being safe in your decisions." Then, of course, for most people, this critical "Eureka Moment" gets triggered, making them see life in a whole new way, forever changed. 

Open Secret, healthy snacking company Founder & CEO, Ahana Gautam remembers one such moment in a class discussion in Harvard over PepsiCo. "When I heard a comment from a classmate on corporate social responsibility in a class discussion, this led to a whole series of self-introductions," she says. "My time at Harvard School of Business was all about a transition from ‘pleasure-seeking’ to ‘difference-making.’ " Global management education brings Indian students face to face with ‘best practices' in a global setting. They return with all this learning under their belt—and not just with another degree in their luggage. They come with a confidence and a clarity of thought increasingly being shaped in terms of ‘India’s start-up ecosystem, investment and corporate world.’ Their thinking now and their vocabulary increasingly reflect this new emerging reality in ‘India’s start-up ecosystem, investment and corporate reality.’ " Fellowship programs such as the Rhodes Scholarship and Dale Cowan Fellowship offered by Harvard have a critical role to play in this whole massive effort of exposing students to a totally different learning environment. "Of course, the Cambridge setting with Harvard being part of this setting, provided an ideal environment for learning," says a student.