WASHINGTON, DC (November 24)—The Global Business School Network (GBSN) hosted the first International Advisory Board meeting for the Karachi Business School, a proposed world-class institution to be located in the prestigious city center of Karachi, Pakistan. GBSN brought together faculty and deans from top-ranked business schools from the United States, England, France, and Germany to Washington DC to meet with business officials from Pakistan to conceptualize the new school. Faculty and administrators from business schools in Mexico, Nigeria, Slovenia, Switzerland, and the United States joined the meeting through phone conferencing to advise on areas of their expertise.
The Karachi Business School (KBS) is envisioned to be premier institution of business learning that will be dedicated to producing creative business leaders capable of competing in the global market place. KBS is being spearheaded by a group of 13 Pakistani businesses that have formed a non-profit organization, the Karachi Education Initiative, to financially sponsor the establishment of the school. The Karachi Business School will offer programs in executive education in 2010 with the MBA and Executive MBA degree programs starting in 2011.
Hussain Dawood, the Chairman of the Karachi Education Initiative and also the head of the Dawood Group, a leading business organization with various interests in Pakistan, is a leader of the initiative and also major contributor to the Karachi Education Initiative. The Dawood family, through their foundation, has been an influential force since the 1960’s in supporting education initiatives in Pakistan. “There is a need to take education to scale,” Hussain Dawood stated during the meeting, “our problem is that as the Government does not have the funds for providing education, we need the private sector support to produce intellectual capital that will transform Pakistan.” The Dawood Foundation plans to build the infrastructure for the institution at a Karachi city center location that it owns with plans to lease the building to the Karachi Business School.
"This is an exciting opportunity for members of the Global Business School Network to provide their experience and expertise in designing a new world-class business school in Pakistan," stated Guy Pfeffermann, the CEO of the Global Business School Network, “GBSN represents the cutting edge theory and practice of management education and research. We are pleased to support this initiative through the development of a strategic plan under the guidance of our international experts.”
The Global Business School Network works to create public-private partnerships to strengthen the skills of managers in emerging markets by expanding and enhancing opportunities for management education and training in these countries. More than thirty leading global business schools are network members and contribute expertise to GBSN programs.
