India needs education investment: Glenn Hubbard

Columbia Business School has no plans to set up campus in India, but will continue to enhance its research presence, says dean Glenn Hubbard, former head of the Council of Economic Advisors to ex-US president George Bush.

He was in Mumbai to meet business people and alumni. Hubbard, who is viewed as a leading Republican economist in the US, tells ET India must make more investment in education and training.

What are your plans in India?

To begin with, we continue to include more business cases in our curriculum from a variety of countries and India is on the target list for more cases. The second is the event strategy and India is a big target for us as a prominent economy. And the third is to think of more ways in which we can enter India.

Do you plan to set up a campus in India?

We don’t plan to set up campuses anywhere in the world. I want every classroom we have, to be global. Which means, we don’t want all American, Indian or Chinese faces. We want programmes all over the world, but with faculty and partners like our relationship with IIM Ahmedabad for case writing.

What is the level of research interest in India among global faculty and students?

India occupies an amazing position in the global education map. Our MBA students take global study trips and India is very popular. There is also enormous faculty interest in India.

What is the US and Republican Party’s view on the kind of policy initiatives needed in India?

To have a competitive economy in the long run, there has to be more investment in education.