Indian School of Business Short Exchange Study Abroad Report 2023: Kathleen Taylor

We are pleased to introduce a study abroad report from Kathleen Taylor, who participated in a short exchange at the Indian School of Business in April 2023.

My exchange experience at the Indian School of Business (ISB) exceeded my already-high expectations in every way. ISB has an excellent reputation internationally as a world class business school, and so I expected classes to be stimulating and challenging, which they were. However, my experience at ISB was so much more than what I learned in the classroom. I was overwhelmed by Indian hospitality and generosity and made so many friends and acquaintances. I built a strong network of impressive young professionals and fell in love with Indian culture.

Academics

I chose to take a diverse assortment of courses at ISB including courses in the areas of finance, law, marketing, strategy and artificial intelligence. Some of these were outside of my comfort zone given my previous education and work experience, but the challenge meant that I learned a lot. Group work was a fundamental component of all curricula, meaning that I had the chance to work with and get to know a lot of my peers. Many of my courses focused on the Indian context, which was challenging given my lack of experience in India. However, with India occupying such a large and growing space in the global economy, and with so many major multinationals increasingly conducting so much of their work in India, I think that learning more about the Indian context is an important part of a holistic education in international business. Therefore, I found this focus to be both relevant and interesting.

Student Life

The student life at ISB was very different to that at NUCB Business School. While the NUCB MBA program is a weekend program, allowing many of its students to work during the week, the ISB program is full-time. All students live on campus and student-life is very busy, full of extra-curricular activities. During my time there I participated in numerous musical performances, a dance performance, a fashion show, a sports race and various other sporting and recreational activities. I also had the chance to join in various traditional celebrations and festivals which was an amazing experience and lots of fun. I lived on campus, sharing an apartment with three other female students who were friendly and welcoming to me. The campus was beautiful and full of nature. I saw peacocks, porcupines and wild boars almost every day. The facilities were also wonderful, and I particularly enjoyed the gym and swimming pool which provided a welcome respite from the 36-degree summer heat!