Last Friday finished the first residential week of the Global MBA 2009 at the IE Business School campus in Madrid. This week along with another week at the end of the program was introduced for the first time in this intake and the feedback has been totally positive.
Mariel from the Philippines, residing in Thailand: â??I had high expectations of the GMBA Residential Week in Madrid. I was looking forward to workshops, and interaction with the professors and programme management, as well as networking opportunity with alumni. I got all those and much more. I was surprised â?? and delighted â?? by the relationship that developed among the students. Despite spending an intense 9 am to 9 pm filled with classes, workshops, and group work, we still found the time to bond over a bottle (or two) of Ribera del Duero on most evenings. In just a week, we planted the seeds that hopefully will blossom to lifelong friendships. On our last evening, most of the class â?? including our programme director â?? went out to a club and partied until 4am! We just couldnâ??t say goodbye.â?
IE’s Global MBA gained in this intake a really global perspective with 24 nationalities in a group of 35 students covering all 5 continents. The first time in the history of IE the Asia-Pacific region counts for 20% of the students and is the second most represented group in the program. Students are coming from Australia, India, Japan, Philippines and Taiwan. The traditionally over-balance from Latin America and the US counts also a combined 20% giving in this way a new angel in the class discussion.
Satomi Minemawari from Japan: My impression of the course is, in a word, “diversity”. 35 people from more than 20 countries with various backgrounds and experiences, from which I believe I can definitely learn a lot. I see more difficulties than full-time in terms of communication, but this challenge will help us improve our communication and teamwork capabilities further. Anyway, I am starting to enjoy the course, hardwork and teamwork, and really hope that I can finish with all my colleagues.
70% of the students do not major in business (31%), being Engineering (40%) and Humanities(23%) the strongest represented university degrees. This indicates a clear trend in the past years that MBA studies are not only for people who already studied business but for people who wish to amplify their academic scope towards other fields.
The average professional experience raises to 6 years. These experiences are from a very broad range of industries. The three most represented industries (Manufacturing/Construction, Consumer Products, Telecom /IT) count for less than 40% so that the students can expect a great insight into various industries and find everytime somebody who “is in the know”.
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