Wharton MBA for Executives Students to Meet with Key Indian Business and Government Leaders; Students from San Francisco Campus Will Travel to Delhi and Mumbai

Business Wire, August 25, 2004

SAN FRANCISCO -- More than 80 second-year Wharton School MBA for Executives students from Wharton West, the School's San Francisco campus, will travel to India Sept. 6 - 10 to meet with key government and business leaders as part of an ongoing effort to learn more about the country's growing influence in the international marketplace.

The students represent both the Wharton School and the various companies from which they work. The international trip, part of the Wharton curriculum, provides both students and international industry and government leaders the opportunity to learn from one another about forward-looking business trends in the region. It also is an excellent opportunity for relationship-building between the regions.

"For years, the Wharton School MBA Program for Executives, which has campuses in both Philadelphia and San Francisco, has made international trips a tradition," says Anjani Jain, vice dean and director of the Wharton School Graduate Division. "India's rapid ascent in the global economy and its established market and regulatory institutions, make it a logical and important choice for increased exposure to future business leaders."

The visit kicks off in Delhi, where the Wharton contingent will hold meetings with industry and government leaders, including: Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, president of India; Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman, Planning Commission; Dayanidhi Maran, cabinet minister, Information Technology; as well as top management from IBM Daksh (NYSE:IBM), India's fastest growing Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) services provider, that was recently acquired by IBM.

The group will also visit Mumbai to conduct meetings with leading regional businesses, including: McKinsey India, Reliance Infocomm (Bombay:RELI.BO), Hindustan Lever Limited (Bombay:HLL.BO), Aditya Birla Group (Bombay:HALC.BO; Bombay:GRAS.BO; Bombay:IRYN.BO), Tata Group (Bombay:TCS.BO; Bombay:TISC.BO), Syntel Inc (NasdaqNM:SYNT), Sony Entertainment Television, DSP Merrill Lynch (Bombay:DSPM.BO), Pfizer India (Bombay:PFIZ.BO; NYSE:PFE), and Microsoft(NasdaqNM:MSFT). Students will also meet and network with Wharton alumni while in the region.

"This is the first time such a large contingent of students and faculty from any leading business school will visit India in an effort to better understand how regional companies plan and execute business locally and abroad," said Govind Iyer, a member of the Wharton Alumni Club of India. "Wharton's already strong presence in the region is growing via ongoing student visits, faculty research, and an active alumni network."

About Wharton West and The Wharton School

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, www.wharton.upenn.edu, is recognized around the world for its academic strengths across every major discipline and at every level of business education. Founded in 1881 as the first collegiate business school in the United States, Wharton has approximately 4,600 undergraduate, MBA, and doctoral students, more than 8,000 participants in its executive education programs annually, and an alumni network of more than 80,000 worldwide.

The MBA for Executives Program was one of the first programs launched at Wharton West, the School's campus in San Francisco. A residential program, students attend classes on alternate weekends and during two week-long sessions in the summer. Students based in San Francisco have the option of spending a semester at Wharton's Philadelphia campus. Likewise, Philadelphia-based students have the opportunity to study at Wharton West. Because Wharton students live and work together during focused on-site sessions, students have an opportunity to forge close connections with classmates as well as to foster teamwork skills. In addition, the integration of work and study provides a living laboratory for applying knowledge. In addition to serving as the west coast base for the School's MBA for Executives program, Wharton West also offers non-degree executive education programs.

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