The Creation of EIT and European competitiveness in Management Education

Santiago Iñiguez, Dean of Instituto de Empresa,

The European Commission, last Wednesday, confirmed its plans to create the European Institute of Technology (EIT) a project that was first announced by EU Commission President Barroso last year. According to the EU Commision, the new entity aims at becoming the flagship institution in Europe for achieving excellence in higher education, research and innovation. I have commented on this initiative before and what I said is still applicable.

Tags(clickable): Education, MBA, Business School, EU, EIT, Economics

Reading the news on EIT reminds me of the presentation made this morning at my school by Mr. Cristobal Montoro, a Member of the European Parliament and a Former Spanish Minister of Finance. Mr. Montoro explained that Europe’s main economic malaise is self-confidence, not competitiveness. In his opinion, the major factor that is burdening the growth of the European Economy is domestic demand: Europeans are not confident enough in their future and consequently do not spend or invest as much as their fellow Americans or Asians. However, the competitiveness of the EU economy is shown, in his opinion, by the fact that some of the major EU economies are net exporters.

Let’s now think about Management Education. If we consider the global competitiveness of European b-schools in terms of their capacity to attract foreign students –the equivalent to exports in this industry-, the progression in the past years has been very promising. Take, for example, the data published by the Financial Times in its latest MBA rankings and you will notice that the average number of foreign students at the top 10 European b-schools is 85.5 whereas in the case of the top 10 American b-schools is 33.5. Does this show that European b-schools are more competitive than their American counterparts?

Comments

[Brice]

I agree with Pierluigi. Take out all EU students and you would probably have less true incoming foreigners per EU B-schools.
Moreover one of the legitimate question is "as a foreigner, why would I consider European B-Shool over US B-school?"
My opinion: Europe has a very strong cultural factor link to their business pratice? If as I choose any EU B-school is more likely because:
a- I already lived in Europe and I liked it
b- and I want to work in an EU Country
c- My country has heavy political/economical links with that particular EU country and my alumni would serve me along the way... somedays back home.

It would make less sense to go for a B-school out of any related connections with your current and future targeted working environment, no?

[pierluigi]

I disagree with Dean Iñinguez on considering the number of foreign students as a metric to define "competitiveness" of European MBAs.
I would say that it is more dependent of considering EU-25 as twenty five distinct countries, therefore Italian students in Spanish schools are "international", while Ohio students in New York schools are "domestic".
I would be curious to see the percentage of extra-EU25 students in top European schools...
Mrs. Bradshaw, any insights?