When Harvard Business School (HBS) announced the creation of HBS Interactive—its corporate education program—last November, HBS attracted lots of national attention.

Devised as a way for large corporations to draw upon the expertise of HBS professors, HBS Interactive (HBSi) gives corporate America the chance to receive customized educational programs (taught by HBS faculty) aimed at solving specific problems companies are facing. But access to HBS’s brightest minds comes with a large price tag. Companies pay up to $10 million dollars for each customized program.

HBS professors and administrators alike say that faculty interaction with corporations in developing these customized educational programs gives them the chance to glean knowledge about some of the most pressing problems faced by businesses.

But while the new HBSi is representative of HBS’ two-pronged approach to education—devoting itself to education programs for non-HBS students nearly as much as it does to for those enrolled.

HBSi Board Chair W. Earl Sasser, Foundation Professor of Service Management, says he spent much of his time last semester developing the curriculum for HBSi.

“As the new head of HBSi, I would devise the curriculum for launching a new business program, putting it to use myself,” Sasser says.

Though Sasser and other HBS professors are increasingly investing more time in activities outside the classroom (like consulting for corporations and serving on their boards of directors), HBS maintains that the school’s two pronged educational philosophy improves—not detracts from—the HBS education, even though HBS faculty can spend up to two weeks more away from the classroom than faculty members at other Harvard schools.

Fuzzy Math:

Counting Time Away

The issue of faculty members splitting time between classes and outside activity is an issue that has been discussed extensively at Harvard.

Regulations, devised last year by the University-wide Faculty Committee on Outside Activity, state that a professor can devote no more than 20% of his or her effort s to outside activity.

But the different Harvard schools are able to interpret and enforce this blanket ruling differently; the Law School counts hours when calculating how much time professors can spend on outside activities, the College counts effort and the Business School counts days.