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THE OLD WORLD'S NEWFANGLED MBAs (int'l edition)European schools are now offering American-style programs--but with an international spinFor decades, European managers disdained American MBAs. They believed U.S. universities churned out arrogant, inexperienced 25-year-olds who demanded big salaries and understood little about building consensus, teamwork, or social values. A handful of elite European schools created American-style business education programs with a more international twist but were hardly viewed as mainstream. Throughout the 1980s, as MBAs proliferated in the U.S., the classic training for managers in Europe remained an engineering or economics degree from a local university. ''Only [companies such as] Citibank were looking for European MBAs,'' recalls Kai Peters, director of the MBA program at Rotterdam School of Management. No more. In recent years, the demands of global competition have been spurring change in Europe, from the factory floor to the boardroom. Now, the recruitment office is in the throes of change, too. As companies increasingly expand beyond their borders, they are demanding skills and experience that go beyond the traditional gearhead or sales-and-marketing education. As a result, MBA-style programs are proliferating in Europe, and enrollment is rising. Last year, the American MBA accreditation organization, AACSB, gave its seal of approval to two European schools for the first time: Paris-based Groupe Essec School of Management and the Rotterdam School of Management at Erasmus University in the Netherlands. The Brussels-based European Foundation for Management Development has also set up a unit to accredit European business schools. A total of 19 have qualified so far. While a master's degree in business has a newfound legitimacy in Europe, many universities and business schools also are innovating on the U.S. model. They retain core courses in finance, marketing, and accounting but offer a stronger accent on international and interpersonal skills. This year's MBA class at the London Business School (LBS) draws students from 54 countries and offers work/study programs in Central Europe and Africa. At Nijenrode University in Holland, MBA students are taught in English and work in groups of five representing five different nationalities. ''The ultimate success of companies lies in healthy team dynamics,'' says Karel Samson, director of the International MBA program at Nijenrode. Adds Associate Dean Arnoud De Meyer of France's INSEAD: ''There is a huge demand for people who have learned to work in a multicultural, multilingual business environment.'' European schools are also forging networks where faculty, students, and curriculum are swapped with partner schools. One of the more ambitious partnering programs is the Community of European Management Schools (CEMS), which links leading business schools from 15 different European countries. CEMS students get a master's in management science, but the training is similar to an MBA, including core business skills and case studies. The idea behind the 10-year-old CEMS network was to forge a European business education with a more international tilt than the domestic programs each school already offered. Students must spend one semester studying in a foreign member school, speak three languages, and work outside their home country. Yannig Gourmelon, 24, who graduated tHis year from French CEMS member Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC), spent five months studying in Prague and did internships in Germany, France, and the U.S., for example. Armed with the CEMS master's in science management, he received offers from several French multinationals but opted for an entrepreneurial post at a London-based finance startup. ''I want to learn languages, cultures, and other methods,'' he says, before returning to his home country to work. SINGAPORE, TOO. Many of the business school linkups extend well beyOnd the Continent. For example, INSEAD, long known for the diversity of its student body, is pioneering a new concept by setting up a full-scale replica of its program in Asia. The Singapore campus, scheduled to open in 2000, will begin operations with 45 students and a faculty of 15 to 20 professors, but it is expected to admit a class of 75 in 2001 (page 78). Meanwhile, many U.S. schools are forging ties to European institutions. Northwestern University's J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management, for example, recently teamed up with Nijenrode University to develop a new 18-month MBA program aimed at working managers with five years of experience or more. U.S. schools are attracted by Europe's push for programs focusing on managing multicultural organizations. Says Henry Mintzberg, professor of management at McGill University in Montreal and professor of organization at INSEAD in Fontainebleau outside Paris: ''Ninety-five percent of the interesting developments are happening in Europe and, especially, Britain.'' Mintzberg has developed a new ''working MBA'' for middle managers involving McGill, Britain's University of Lancaster, INSEAD, Bangalore in India, and Tokyo's Hitotsubashi. The program consists of two-week modules at the five schools spread over a period of 16 months, so students apply what they are learning directly to problem-solving on the job. A longtime critic of American MBA programs, Mintzberg thinks educating managers in an academic setting without linking learning to a real business environment is ineffective. ''MBA students aren't managers. You rip them out of the context and give them theoretical case studies. That trains people to be very superficial,'' he argues. European schools also are developing programs that emphasize strong interpersonal skills. Demand for such talents is growing as more European companies invest and expand outside their home markets. That's a change from even the early 1990s, when rigid hierarchies and authoritarian management structures still prevailed at many large companies. ''It's not sufficient to say we need the best in the class. We also need that human touchy-feely thing,'' says Ottmar Kayser, recruitment chief at Deutsche Bank. ''There is a shift from pure analytical skills and good exams to other skills.'' Both IMD and INSEAD have picked up on the American practice of organizing outdoor retreats that require teamwork and leadership skills to solve problems. At INSEAD, for example, the week before classes start, Outward Bound leads the entering class of 300 into the thick Forest of Fontainebleau and divides them into teams of five people. The teams must accomplish such tasks as getting blindfolded group members to a tree 300 yards away. Yet another new focus in Europe is the specialized MBA. Essec recently launched an MBA in luxury-brand management aimed at tapping the expertise of French companies, such as LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, in the sector. Nijenrode will launch an MBA in financial services and insurance beginning in January. Rotterdam has fashioned an MBA/MBI in the management of business information, seeking to create managers who are also experts in information technology. And London Business School has opened a new Foundation for Entrepreneurial Management, offering courses on entrepreneurship as well as a new business-incubator fund aimed at promoting startups. Such programs often rely on corporate sponsorship, and companies frequently provide lecturers from their own management--a tie that some U.S. schools would find too close. But Europe's business schools argue their new formulas are better geared to companies' needs than ever before. ''We're not changing every year, we're changing every day,'' declares Christian Konig, director of Paris-based Essec. Given the ferment in European business education, U.S. business schools may well end up taking a lesson or two from their transatlantic partners.
By Gail Edmondson in Paris, with Margaret Popper in Barcelona, Julia Flynn in London, Karen Lowry Miller in Frankfurt, and William Echikson in Brussels RELATED ITEMS
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Updated Oct. 8, 1998 by bwwebmaster
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