International strength of EU business schools
I've read this interesting post from a Harvard student blogger about the international outlook of Harvard University. I think that Harvard has the best reputation of all business schools worldwide: it's the best in the US and because the US is the leading economy, it makes it the best worldwide. Simple as that.
Yet, it suffers the common symptom of major American schools: it's too much US-centric. No matter how much foreign students the US schools are admitting, they will never reach the proportions of EU schools with more than 60 different nationalities in a graduating class. Further more, most of the students at theses top EU schools have a real global background as opposed to the foreigner but US-educated students in the US schools. I, for example, lived and worked in 7 different countries; some of my classmates are speaking up to 6 languages and a typical study group of 6 is composed by people from 6 different nationalities. This global community is particularly attractive in today's world and interestingly enough, the US applicants are recognizing this since the largest student body in our class is from the States.
The picture is however not that rosy. For example, a very large proportion of the graduates of the School are working in the UK. A truly global institution would have alumni spread evenly across the major economies. Yet, even recruiters are becoming increasingly sensitive to this global outlook. For example, the US company I will work for over the summer has recruited interns exclusively at EU schools because the project is an international ones and requires a non-US view of the business. Anyway, in the end, it depends on where you want to work. For someone who wishes to work in the US, a top US school makes much more sense than a EU school but for someone with an international outlook, I would argue that a EU school is the best choice today.
Finally, which school will be the next Harvard? I'm ready to bet some good money at an Indian business school but the whole question is when?
Yet, it suffers the common symptom of major American schools: it's too much US-centric. No matter how much foreign students the US schools are admitting, they will never reach the proportions of EU schools with more than 60 different nationalities in a graduating class. Further more, most of the students at theses top EU schools have a real global background as opposed to the foreigner but US-educated students in the US schools. I, for example, lived and worked in 7 different countries; some of my classmates are speaking up to 6 languages and a typical study group of 6 is composed by people from 6 different nationalities. This global community is particularly attractive in today's world and interestingly enough, the US applicants are recognizing this since the largest student body in our class is from the States.
The picture is however not that rosy. For example, a very large proportion of the graduates of the School are working in the UK. A truly global institution would have alumni spread evenly across the major economies. Yet, even recruiters are becoming increasingly sensitive to this global outlook. For example, the US company I will work for over the summer has recruited interns exclusively at EU schools because the project is an international ones and requires a non-US view of the business. Anyway, in the end, it depends on where you want to work. For someone who wishes to work in the US, a top US school makes much more sense than a EU school but for someone with an international outlook, I would argue that a EU school is the best choice today.
Finally, which school will be the next Harvard? I'm ready to bet some good money at an Indian business school but the whole question is when?
posted by k at 9:12 AM
3 Comments:
Hello Karibu,
You have an interesting blog!
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I study in India's best b-school Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and thus found it interesting to see that you have placed your bets on an Indian B-school. Here is my tuppence:
1. given the bureaucratic stranglehold, such pre-eminence is atleast 5 years away.
2. 5 years also because indian economy should really be firing on all engines by then.
3. Greater international participation is needed (as you rightly pointed out.
Hi Kisalaya,
Yes I was thinking of the Indian Institute of Management who has, in my opinion, the potential of becoming a top school. But it does depend a lot on external factors, the biggest one being India becoming an economic powerhouse.
So in term of time frame, I was more thinking in the range of 15-20 years rather than 5 years but hey, we'll see.
Karibu
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