Harvard Business School (HBS) is a renowned business school in the United States. It is one of the graduate schools of Harvard University.

Founded in 1908, Harvard Business School started with fewer than 100 students. In the 1920s, the class size reached 500 students. In 1926, the School moved from the Cambridge side of the Charles River to its present location in Allston (part of Boston) - hence the custom of faculty and students referring to the rest of Harvard University as "across the river." Women were first admitted to its regular two-year Master in Business Administration program with the Class of 1965. The dean of HBS is Jay O. Light, who was appointed by then University President Lawrence Summers on April 24, 2006.

The school offers a full-time MBA program, doctoral programs, as well as many executive education programs, but does not offer an 'Executive MBA'. The School owns Harvard Business School Publishing, which publishes business books, online management tools, teaching cases and the monthly Harvard Business Review.

MBA program

Harvard Business School offers a two-year full time MBA program, which consists of one year of mandatory courses (Required Curriculum) and one year of unrestricted course selection (Elective Curriculum). Admission to the MBA program is one of the most selective graduate programs in the world Fact: date=June 2007, with an admissions rate of 12% for the class of 2010Harvard Business School Website: MBA Program Statistics 1. The student body is international and diverse, with 67% of students who are citizens of the United States. Women comprise 38% of the class of 2010.

The Required Curriculum consists of two semesters. The first semester focuses primarily on the internal aspects of the company and includes the courses Technology and Operations Management, Marketing, Financial Reporting and Control, Leadership and Organizational Behaviour, and Finance I. The second semester focuses on the external aspects and includes the courses Business, Government, and the International Economy, Strategy, The Entrepreneurial Manager, Negotiations, Finance II, and Leadership and Corporate Accountability.

The Elective Curriculum can be chosen from among 96 courses. The diverse selection includes courses such as: Agribusiness, Doing Business in China, Building and Sustaining a Successful Enterprise, Managing in the Information Age, The Moral Leader, Entrepreneurship in Education Reform, Venture Capital and Private Equity, Business at the Base of the Pyramid, Consumer Marketing, Retailing, Power and Influence, Managing Medicine, Supply Chain Management, and Corporate Strategy. The students assign each course a priority and the courses are filled through a lottery system based on student priority and class availability. Elective curriculum students can also complete a field study or independent student research project in lieu of a class. Field studies allow students to work together in a team closely with faculty members to launch a product, develop a new business, or research a real world issue. Independent student research projects provide an opportunity for a student to work with a faculty member to develop deep insights on a particular topic of interest. These options allow students to create a second year curriculum that is aligned with their personal and professional interests.