DeansTalk - business management education

Increased Interest in Erasmus - Spain still no 1. destination.

Europa Communiqués de presse, 13/05/2008.

Established in 1987, Erasmus, the EU's flagship education and training programme for mobility and cooperation in higher education across Europe, continues to expand. Erasmus receives approximately € 450 million per annum under the EU's Lifelong Learning Programme 2007-2013. For the academic year 2006/07, figures show that 3% more students and 10% more university teachers went abroad compared to the previous year. This brought the total participants to almost 160 000 students and 26 000 teachers in that year alone. Central and Eastern European countries, as well as Turkey, have had the biggest growth in the numbers participating in the programme. ...

Student and teacher mobility

During the 20-year period from 1987 to 2007, approximately 1.7 million students benefited from a study period abroad under the Erasmus programme with 159 324 Erasmus students in the academic year 2006/07. This represents an annual increase of 3.2% compared to 7.2% in the previous year.

Germany continued to be the biggest sender with 23 884 Erasmus students followed by France (22 981), Spain (22 322) and Italy (17 195). Spain remained the most popular destination for students, receiving 27 464 over the year, with France in second place (20 673), followed by Germany (17 878) and the United Kingdom (16 508).

One Million Students Studying Abroad: Visionary Bill Seeks to Prepare Globally Educated Americans

Press room, NAFSA, Mar 12, 2007

WASHINGTON, March 12, 2007 – The Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Foundation Act of 2007... proposes the creation of an innovative public-private partnership to dramatically increase the number of American college students who study abroad. It specifically cites the foreign policy challenges facing the United States as a central reason for the need to expand Americans’ knowledge of other cultures and foreign languages, and it focuses particular attention on encouraging more students to study abroad in nontraditional destinations, especially in the developing world.

...The Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Foundation Act would create an independent entity to administer a national study abroad program, taking a unique approach that would give the program the flexibility necessary to accomplish its ambitious mandate: that at least one million U.S. undergraduate students will study abroad annually in ten years’ time, and that study abroad opportunities will become more diverse in terms of participants, fields of study, and destinations, especially in the developing world. In addition to providing a pool of direct scholarships, the program would encourage higher education institutions to address the on-campus factors that most heavily impact study abroad participation – curriculum, faculty involvement, institutional leadership, programming – by making a commitment to institutional reform a prerequisite for access to federal funds....

...Today, only about one percent of U.S. college undergraduates have studied abroad, despite opinion polls that indicate that more than three-quarters of Americans believe it is important to do so and a rising chorus of business, education, and government leaders concerned about Americans’ lack of preparedness in engaging and communicating with the world.

European Institute of Technology

The European Commision has just published (30/1/2007) a new information leaflet (3.78 MB) about the EIT.

Further information: http://eit.europa.eu

Winds of change rattle European universities

Article by CNN, November 20, 2006.

PARIS, France (AP) -- German universities are trying to charge tuition. Paris schools are considering selection instead of open admission. Dutch colleges are pushing students to finish faster. Greece wants to lift a ban on private universities.

Change is rattling Europe's temples of learning.

Resistance remains fierce, driven by fears of the "Americanization" -- or commercialization -- of higher education.

But economic realities are overpowering those who maintain that universities should impart universal knowledge, not pave the way to a job. Too many European graduates are getting welfare checks instead of paychecks...

European Student Barometer 2006

The objective of the European Student Barometer 2006 is to analyse and present the various differences and similarities present among graduates of higher education institutions in the European context. It incorporates analysis of students from Germany, France, United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Belgium, The Netherlands, Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland.

The study is the largest of its kind, covers 14 European countries and incorporates the responses of over 15,186 business students in the final 2 years of their undergraduate degrees. Students of economics and management related subjects form the basis of the Business Edition.

Fig.2 The most attractive employers in Europe, Business

The Future of European Universities under Examination

In the paper titled "The Future of European Education: Rennaissance or Decay"", published in June this year, Richard Lambert and Nick Butler argue that "If Europe wants to stop falling behind and stem the ‘brain drain’ across the Atlantic it must act now. It needs to devote more resources to research, improve its teaching record, build up centres of excellence, strengthen links between education and business, and give its universities more autonomy".

Job offers head towards a record and other MBA articles from The Times (May 18th)

Graduates are spoilt for choice as job offers head towards a record
Boom in City fuels need for new talent.
The TopMBA.com Index of MBA Recruiting forecasts a 22 per cent increase in jobs on offer. The prediction is based on responses from more than 500 MBA employers in 30 countries and follows a 20 per cent increase last year.

One year or two: the great divide 
The differences between North American and European schools.

Outsider to raise Insead’s profile
J. Frank Brown, the European school’s new dean, talks to Des Dearlove

Studying the family way catches on
As the average age of MBAs has nudged higher so has the likelihood that they will be in a long-term relationship while studying. 

Tags(clickable): The Times, INSEAD, The City

Are American MBA textbooks the norm?

Dear readers, do you agree with this Indian Professor with reference to your own country?

The Times of India article:
"The lack of good Indian textbooks leads to students getting an 'American view' of management," said Vijay Kapur, professor of Marketing"

The American view of management is too bureaucratic, confrontational and rigid, with too much emphasis on the individual. This can lead to adverse consequences in an Indian scenario, which values moderation, relationship and trust.

Is this a fair comment?

Alumnus of both schools

James Tatum, previous student of Dartmouth College and MBA Instituto de Empresa.

As an alumnus of both the American school system, namely Dartmouth College, and the MBA program at Instituto de Empresa perhaps I can provide a shareholder’s view to this fascinating conversation between the Deans...