We will focus on "second-tier" schools that are hot on the heels of the leaders. You know those anyway: INSEAD, London Business School, IMD, IESE, Rotterdam School of Management and a number of others. How many articles have been written about them... But let's step out of the magic circle of the top ten. For orientation, STUDY IN suggests the recognized benchmark - the Financial Times newspaper ranking.
A few words about European schools in general. As a rule, they offer one-year programs with a wide selection of specializations and electives, and also provide for the completion of a group or individual project in companies (in-depth project). The number of students on them varies from 30 to 200 people. All leading European schools have accreditation from EQUIS (EFMD, European Foundation for Management Development) or AMBA (Association of MBAs). Accreditation from the American association AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) is less common. A number of schools have recognition from all three associations.
So, to begin with, let's head to red-brick Manchester, the cradle of the "industrial revolution". Here is located Manchester Business School, one of the two oldest schools in the UK (founded in 1965). It is among only 12 schools in the world accredited by the three mentioned associations. And it offers an 18-month program, unusual for Europe, based on the Harvard curriculum.
The highlight of its approach is the "Manchester method", which focuses students' attention on the practical application of the knowledge and skills they acquire. They are offered 15 core subjects and a serious 10-week group project. The European Study Programme (ESP) course, which allows 25 lucky students to study in detail business ideas without investment and the peculiarities of business practice in France, Spain and the Czech Republic. It is expected that the upcoming merger with UMIST's Manchester School of Management in autumn 2004 will only strengthen MBS's position. Well, we'll see.
And now by train we'll go to London, where Cass Business School, City University is located. It is famous for teaching finance, and its proximity to the City of London helps effectively resolve issues with graduate employment. The founder of the legendary airline EasyJet, Stelios Haji-Ioannou, studied here. The school has just moved into a new building on Bunhill Row, which has already been nominated for a number of architectural awards, and the Queen herself opened the school in May. According to student reviews, the building is so luxurious that it resembles a bank more than an educational institution. Within the MBA program, the following specializations are possible: general and strategic management, strategic management in high technology, international commerce and management, finance. The three components of the curriculum are the integrated Core Management Programme; electives and specialization courses; and a business project.
From here we take a taxi to the prestigious London district of South Kensington. This is where the campus of Imperial College is located, a university within whose walls 14 Nobel laureates studied or taught. It is famous for its engineering and medical faculties, and Imperial College Management School - for teaching finance and entrepreneurship. By the way, it surpasses all others in the number of new enterprises created by students. In January, the school will move to a new building, built thanks to a donation of £25 million from an alumnus with the Japanese surname Tanaka. For the 50-week MBA program, the college enrolls 140-150 people, representing a total of 30 countries. An annual competition is held for the best business plan.
From noisy London we'll fly to the intimate Edinburgh, the capital of the eternally gloomy Scotland. Here is Edinburgh University Management School, part of the ancient University of Edinburgh, founded in 1582. The school annually accepts 80-100 students. They have more than 60 teachers from 16 countries - an impressive ratio.
At Edinburgh University Management School you can study on a 12-month regular MBA and a 15-month program with a specialization in international business (MBA in International Business). If we talk about the basic program, its first semester is devoted to compulsory subjects, while in the second and third semesters students study strategic management and elective courses. A special addition is the MBA+ program. It fits quite successfully into the currently fashionable concept of lifelong learning, because it allows graduates to improve their qualifications over time by taking new courses.
As they say on the Euronews channel, "now let's move to Ireland" to visit Trinity College Dublin. This is perhaps the most respected higher education institution in Ireland, a country known for its serious attitude to learning. The Trinity MBA program is one-year, with only 30-35 students enrolled, so they can afford careful selection and then personal attention to each. The curriculum is divided into five modules, one of which is devoted to completing a group project. It is supplemented by two short one-week projects: one is dedicated to e-Business, the other to the specifics of management in European Union countries. The latter is conducted at the Louvain Institute of Europe in Belgium. In addition, students complete a personal research project. Besides the Irish, students from 12 countries study on the Trinity MBA, including China, Australia and Canada.
Next, our path leads to tulip-filled Holland, to Universiteit Nyenrode, in the town of Breukelen (20 minutes' drive from Utrecht). This country is famous for its unconventional approaches, and in this case we have an interesting specimen: a business school... in a 13th-century castle. 140 acres of grounds, a well-kept park, canals. The university was founded in 1946, right after World War II, by such 'grandees' of Dutch business as KLM, Shell, and Philips. From its founding, it specialized specifically in business education. It has close ties with well-known American schools such as the Kellogg Graduate School of Management and the University of Rochester (with the latter, an Executive MBA is organized). The 13-month International MBA program is divided into six blocks. 22% of students come here from Central and Eastern Europe.
The next stop is NIMBAS, also in Utrecht. An impressive example of international integration: the school has campuses in the Netherlands and Germany, which in itself is quite unusual for Europe, but it also issues an English diploma (University of Bradford). Every year, 200 students from 44 countries are enrolled. The Economist magazine notes the success of the school's graduates in finding employment. NIMBAS's specialization is management in the field of environmental protection (Environmental Management). The MBA program's curriculum is constantly updated to reflect the latest trends in the global economy. According to the school's marketing and communications manager, Alexandra Welge, courses recently offered to students include globalization and the international business environment, and crisis management. The competition is three people per place.
From Holland we set off for sunny France. The first stop is Paris, the City of Light, where about 200,000 foreign students from all over the world study. The main campus of the ESCP-EAP School of Commerce is located here. A distinctive feature of this institution is that you can study either entirely in English or combine it with French. The school recently received AACSB accreditation and now has a full set of them. ESCP-EAP offers a 12-month program in English, including 11 core courses (360 hours), 16 elective courses to choose from (120 hours), and seminars on international management (140 hours). Class size is no more than 35 people. About 50% of students are Europeans, the rest come from South and North America, Asia, Australia, etc. The school has 22,000 graduates who now work in 65 countries.
Just 20 km from Paris towards Versailles, and we are at HEC School of Commerce (Haute Ecole de Commerce), one of the oldest business schools in Europe. It was founded in 1881 and has close ties with the Paris Chamber of Commerce. The MBA program enrolls about 200 students annually, 73% of whom are foreigners from 40 countries. The 16-month program is divided into two parts: a six-month foundation devoted to core disciplines, and a 10-month 'personalization phase' in which the student chooses one of seven specializations (International Finance, Marketing, Entrepreneur, etc.). These are made up of electives, of which about 70 are offered in total. Emphasis is placed on working in groups of 4-5 people. You can study entirely in English or combine it with French.
We have not forgotten Spain either. We board the Eurocity high-speed train and go to Barcelona, to ESADE (Escuela Superior de Administracion y Direccion de Empresas) - one of the country's leading business schools, another example of 'bilingualism', but this time with a Spanish twist. Founded in 1958 with the participation of the Jesuit Order (which is typical for Spain), this private school has a full set of accreditations. Its pride is student exchange agreements with 60 (!) business schools around the world. The one-year program is divided into two semesters: the first can be taken in English or Spanish, while the second is taught in both languages simultaneously. People praise ESADE's convenient and cozy campus, located in the suburbs of Barcelona. We will modestly keep silent about the beaches and other pleasures...
From here, from southern latitudes, we head north, almost to the Arctic Circle. Finland's Helsinki School of Economics surpassed all other Scandinavian management schools in the Financial Times top hundred (78th place). It was founded in 1911 and is the largest business school in Finland (about 4,000 students). In its International MBA program, serious attention is paid to international aspects, as reflected in its name. The school emphasizes the features of management in the field of technology (which is not surprising given the success of Finnish Nokia worldwide). According to the school's marketing coordinator, Minttu Ruusuvuori, in January, another specialization will be added to the Information Technology Management Track - entrepreneurship in high technology, which will allow students to study all aspects of this area in depth. Visiting professors from leading schools in Europe and the USA (INSEAD, ESADE, Emory, etc.) participate in teaching. At the same time, the competition at HSE is small - only two people per place.
So, our short whirlwind trip across Europe has ended in Helsinki. Let's have a shot of Finlandia vodka and catch our breath. Now you are briefly acquainted with the leading schools of the Old World. All that remains is to make a choice...