IE & Asia-Pacific

Aleksandra, current student of the Master in International Management, talks about her experiences during the Master.

Hi Aleksandra! Start off by telling us about yourself…
Hello! My name is Aleksandra! I’m a girl from Cleveland, USA, with Serbian blood, heart, and soul. I did my Bachelor degree in International Business at the University of Akron, USA, and now I am in beautiful Madrid pursuing my passion in international business and management. I first fell in love with Spain when I lived for a summer in Sevilla (southern Spain, in Andalusia). Having that daily magical influence of exquisite Arab architecture, centuries upon centuries of Roman, Jewish, and Moorish history at every step, and the daily siesta coma that apparently comes with the arrival stamp in your passport, the Spanish summer heat just ignited my passion for this land. Did I mention that I also love the culture, language, and zeal for life here in Spain?!

Great stuff, do you have an interesting fact or story to share with us?
I started learning Arabic during my last semester of university! I loved it… but haven’t done it since. It’s such a beautiful language to write!

What are the kinds of things you admire in a person?
I admire people who “dare to be themselves in the face of adversity. Choosing right over wrong, ethics over convenience, and truth over popularity….. Since these are the choices that measure your life” (author unknown). Read more…

IE Focus | By Fernando Fernandez, professor at IE Business School

The IMF’s absurd proposal to buy debt from threatened European countries like Spain or Italy would have made it into a hedge fund, and it would have been developing countries that paid the price.Ever since the Mexico peso crisis resulted in the so called tequila effect in the early nineties, the International Monetary Fund has been trying to find the formula to prevent financial contagion. To be more specific, it has been searching for the way to stop financial market dynamics from unfairly impacting countries that have no serious solvency problems, but which will end up having them if they fall out of favor with investors, who then pull out en masse causing spiraling debt differentials coupled with a credit crunch. But what it has not done so far is to suggest that it should serve as a highly speculative investment fund that would intervene directly in the debt market, stockpiling the currencies of countries under threat. This is exactly what Portugal’s Antonio Borges, the inexperienced head of the European Department, proposed. The suggestion was only on the table for the space of a few hours, because it was such a ridiculous idea, so out of synch with the nature and functions of the IMF, that he had to withdraw it before the end of the day. Read more…

IE Business School’s Executive MBA program has been ranked 4th worldwide and 1st in Europe in BusinessWeek’s latest ranking of Executive MBA programs.

IE Business School runs Executive MBA programs in several formats to meet the specific needs of different executive profiles. In addition to the onsite version, the School’s Executive MBA program portfolio includes blended versions that combine onsite and online learning available in both English and Spanish versions. These programs include the International Executive MBA, and the recently launched IE Brown Executive MBA, aimed at senior managers with a markedly international profile, with a student body that currently comprises students from 14 countries. IE runs the program jointly with Brown University, an Ivy League university recognized for excellence in humanistic, social and scientific disciplines. The portfolio is rounded off with the IE’s new Global Executive MBA, a blended program that includes periods in Spain, China, US and Brazil.

In the annual ranking of America’s top Architecture and Design School, the well reputed publication Design Intelligence looks further beyond the US and is listing Unexpected Options. These are education options beyond what DI considers mainstream for their annual rankings.

About the IE School of Architecture they are writing:
“We’ve been watching this school for several years as they bring an entirely different model into play. Located in Madrid and Segovia, Spain, this school was started by the IE Business School, one of the top-rated business schools in the world. The faculty and administration have the resources to establish a tier-one global architecture and design school designed to strengthen professional practices. Based in a former monastery, the learning environment is high-tech and inspiring. Its core teaching language is English.”

This is the second mention of the IE School of Architecture as in 2010 it was claimed a Hidden Gem of Architecture education.

Created by students to document their first days at the IE International MBA – stay tuned for more videos to come!

IE Business School 11/11 intake intro video: The trailer from IE Business School 11/11 intake on Vimeo.

Global Engagement through Social Entrepreneurship is the topic of the 2012 IB World Student Conference hosted by IE University, Spain.

This conference provides to IB Diploma Program students the opportunity to meet students and social entrepreneurs who share a concern about our society’s most pressing problems and want to design an innovative action plan to solve them.

IE University hosts this event in their beautiful historic campus, housed in a 15th century convent, the perfect setting to get inspired and come up with new ideas to achieve social change. Participants will also be able to explore the surrounding areas, and enjoy and absorb all the history and culture that Spain has to offer.

The program includes interactive lectures by renowned social entrepreneurs, as well as team meetings in which, through the process of design thinking, the teams will create an action plan to implement their ideas. In addition, IB Diploma students have the opportunity to take part in cultural, social, and outdoor activities that will allow them to get to know their fellow participants better and learn from their experiences.

Registration is now open on the IB website.

What will the future look like? What are the challenges that society will have to face? The future is the consequence of our current actions. Studying the future could allow us to anticipate consequences and choose courses of action that can lead us to desirable scenarios. This session is not an exercise of prediction but an opportunity to discuss the main issues that are molding the years ahead. Is Globalization reversible? Are we facing a technological revolution? What consequences will current events have on society and business?

Enjoy two engaging sessions with our Professor William Davila in Australia:

Sydney – November 22, 2011 – Four Points by Sheraton, Darling Harbour

Melbourne – November 24, 2011 – The Hub, Level 3 – 673 Bourke Street

For more details, please visit the IE Event Page

IE Business School´s Net Impact Club cordially invites you to the 6^th Annual Social Responsibility Forum (SRF), IE´s most widely attended conference as seen by the geographical reach of its speakers, the increasing number of students from other top European MBA programs, and successful professionals who attend the event every year.  Mark your agendas, this year´s SRF will be held on November 11-12, 2011.

Sustainability is not only for tree-huggers. It is for global strategists as well. For this reason we are convening more than 30 experts from 5 continents to tell you why.

The concept of SRF 2011 is Invent Your Paradigm and hopes to enable a platform to discuss cutting edge developments within sustainability and management thinking: multidisciplinary systems thinking, knowledge networks, change management, as well as the ability to simultaneously view problem solving from local and global perspectives.  Whether we are in the private, public or third sector, this forum believes we need to constantly shift the sustainability paradigm to be effective leaders and decision-makers. With the right dose of empowerment and inspiration, anyone can become a paradigm shifter.

The IE – MIT Sloan Dual Degree is the result of a successful partnership between IE Business School and MIT Sloan where students can earn both an MBA from IE Business School and a Master of Science in Management Studies from MIT Sloan in a period of 19 months.

The MSMS Program is intended for MBA students from non-US business schools allowing them to personalize their learning experience and deepen their knowledge in a particular area of management. Students take courses with MIT Sloan students and work closely with an MIT faculty member to write a master’s thesis. Students can then integrate their previous career experiences and academic knowledge to leverage their thesis to differentiate themselves in the job market.

IE University holds the No. 45 position worldwide and No. 21 in Europe in a survey conducted by International Herald Tribune.

It is the first time that 2 Spanish universities feature among the top 50 worldwide – Universidad de Navarra (41) and IE University (45).  The ranking analyzed the opinions of 3,000 CEOs and senior managers from 1,000 companies in Germany, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, US, Spain, France, Italy, Holland and UK, about the best 150 universities in terms of graduate employability. US universities Harvard, Stanford and Yale achieved the top positions in the ranking, which includes 23 universities in North America, 21 in Europe, and 2 in Asia. European institutions include 2 Spanish universities, Universidad de Navarra (41st) and IE University (45th).

International Herald Tribune drew up the ranking in collaboration with consulting companies Emerging (France) and Trendence (Germany), with the aim of evaluating opinions held by senior managers, who were asked to allocate scores to universities in their country, continent, and other world regions. The main findings of the survey include the fact that recruiters prefer to contract graduates from universities that have close ties with the corporate world, where students accumulate professional experience during their university career. Hence this international ranking serves to identify the best centers of learning in terms of subsequent employment opportunities.

“The fact that our university model is recognized by recruiters worldwide is a source of great satisfaction,” says Salvador Carmona, Rector of IE University. “IE University enjoys close links with the corporate world, and this report clearly states that the connection between universities and businesses is playing an increasingly important role”.

On October 17 and 18 IE University hosted the International Conference on Reinventing Higher Education, organized jointly with The Chronicle of Higher Education. The conference brought together the presidents and rectors of US, European, Asian and Arab universities to examine key issues that included the challenge of ensuring employability among university graduates, currently a hot topic among international media, as evidenced by articles like this in the International Herald Tribune.