Della Bradshaw, The Financial Times Business Education editor.
I think Fernando Jimenez (of Spain's state advisory body) is absolutely right when he says UK business schools (and universities more generally) have been highly successful in attracting overseas students because of the English language. So to answer Prof Iniguez's point.....why are there so few UK business schools in the Financial Times inaugural ranking of Masters in Management programmes?
I believe the answer is the way in which we have historically viewed management education in the UK.
Twenty years ago business studies as an undergraduate degree was seen as a second-rate option taught at polytechnics for those who couldn't get a place on a "proper" degree course, such as law, philosophy, economics or geography. This in turn influenced the way recruiters employed managers - graduates with these general degrees were employed in graduate trainee programmes in all the top UK companies.
If you look at France, by comparison, business degrees are one of the most highly sought after degrees, and their graduates get most of the top jobs.
In the UK things are changing, though. I visited the Said school at Oxford University last week where the university was effectively doubling the capacity of the business school there. Ten years ago Oxford had no business school at all, now its economics and management undergraduate programme is the most oversubscribed in the university.
Hopefully other UK universities will follow their lead.
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