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ESADE’s 4^th Corporate University Forum brings together representatives from leading corporate universities to share best practices

This year’s conclusions pointed towards the need to develop ways of measuring the results of training, as well as deal with the increasing complexities of developing the global culture of the companies. The forum, held last week in Madrid, has become a reference for companies running corporate universities providing them with a birds-eye view of the sector as well as the opportunity to share experiences and best practice models.

Participants noted that although the reasons behind the launch of corporate universities often differ, one of the key effects is to emphasize the corporate culture. Carlos Pelegrín, Talent Management Manager at Orange (France Telecom), explained, “the important thing when we launched the corporate university was the creation of a common corporate culture at a global level, since the company operates in more and more countries around the world.” The director of EDP’s recently-formed corporate university, Vasco Coucello, commented that it was created to provide “a knowledge-focussed meeting point amongst employees”. While Ana Belén Aller, Corporate Human Resources Manager at Celsa Group, noted that their new corporate university came into being to “support the company’s international expansion”. Veteran of corporate universities Julián Sanz Director of Management and Processes in Grupo Santander’s corporate training department noted that for Santander “focusing on fostering our own culture” is a key strategic function of their 6-year old corporate university. Soledad Ortiz, Senior Training and Development Manager at PwC added that for PwC it was vital for “training to become a key element in the company, making the corporate university a centre for excellence was an important way of supporting our internal strategy.”

José Ángel Fernández Izard, Director of Gas Natural Fenosa’s pioneering corporate university, highlighted the need for a commitment to the use of new media in corporate universities and the important role it plays in internal knowledge management. Along these lines, Sanz of Grupo Santander also underlined the need to possess the tools to attract knowledge, pinpoint talent and focus on strategic collectives. Luis Vives, Professor of Business Policy at ESADE, noted that “whatever the specific aim of the corporate university “we should never lose sight of the fact that it should always be geared towards creating value for the company itself,” and that one of their key functions should be “to be flexible enough to pre-empt and adapt to internal and external circumstances in the best interests of the company.”

Another issue discussed during the forum was the need to measure results. One suggestion for improvement in this area was the creation of a standardised measurement system through sharing measurement indicators between companies. To date, each company has been developing and using its own systems to evaluate the true benefit of corporate university training, perhaps a more harmonized approach would lead to more reliable evaluations.

Secretary General of ESADE, Marcel Planellas along with Director of Executive Education at ESADE, Jaume Hugas and Camelia Ilie, Director of Executive Education at ESADE Madrid, also shared their insights throughout the day. Camelia notes, “ESADE was one of the first schools to partner with corporate universities, we have always seen it as an opportunity to contribute our knowledge towards a new way of doing things, working together with leading corporate universities in the sector, helping them with the academic, practical and applied mix necessary to be successful.”

ESADE Business School has moved up in each of the three bi-annual rankings published by BusinessWeek today for Custom Executive Education Programmes, Open Executive Education programmes and the Executive MBA. The rankings, which all measure client satisfaction, once again place ESADE as one of the global leaders in business education.

In custom programmes ESADE placed 4^th in the world (1^st outside the US) only surpassed by Duke, Insead and CCL. This achievement reflects the school’s work in designing and imparting programmes for clients such as Bertelsmann, Bunge, Deutsche Bank, Ford, Pfizer, Repsol, Volkswagen and many others. In addition, ESADE’s leadership in the area of Corporate Universities exemplified by the school’s annual Corporate Universities Forum in Madrid, attended by the Training and HR directors of multinationals such as BBVA, PriceWaterhouse, Santander, Telefonica, and Union Fenosa, many of which are also clients, is thought to have played a role in the ranking.

In open programmes ESADE moved up three places to hold the 11^th position in the world (5^th outside the US). This result is based on the feedback gained from participants of general management programmes such as ESADE’s Programme for Leadership Development (offered in Bilbao, Madrid, San Sebastian and Seville), the Advanced Management Programme (offered Barcelona, Buenos Aires and Madrid), and Programme for Management Development (offered in Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Cordoba (Argentina), Curitiba (Brazil), Madrid and Montevideo (Uruguay) as well as a number of regional capitals across Spain).

ESADE’s Executive MBA programme taught in Madrid or Barcelona, with international modules in the UK, the US, India and China moved up four places to number 17 in the world (4^th outside the US). This part-time programme, taught every other week on Fridays and Saturdays as well as through five intensive modules, attracts participant profiles from many different sectors and includes and adaptation of ESADE’s well renowned LEAD programme.

Overall BusinessWeek rates ESADE as one of the four best business schools in the world in the areas of Leadership, Strategy and General Management. While the rankings are mostly dominated by American schools ESADE is one of only six non-US schools to be consistently ranked.

To see the ranking and read BusinessWeek’s analysis of it, click here.

ESADE Business School climbs the rankings yet again, this time in the Annual Executive Education ranking carried out by the Financial Times on Open and Custom programmes. Reflecting the school’s commitment to further developing their offerings in this area, ESADE has moved up 6 places in open programmes and 17 places in custom programmes.

In custom programs, ESADE broke into the top ten for the first time, ranking 8^th in the world, (5^th in Europe), while the school’s open programmes were ranked 26^th worldwide (8^th in Europe). Overall the ESADE was ranked number 20 in the world for Executive Education as a whole. ESADE’s custom programmes, which are imparted on clients’ premises or at ESADE’s Madrid, Barcelona and Buenos Aires campuses, as well at partner schools in other parts of the world, are those designed specifically to meet clients’ needs. Clients include Telefonica, Bunge, Price Waterhouse Coopers, Intermon Oxfam, IBM, Kpmg, Wagonlit, and Deutsche Bank, among others.

Open programmes are those aimed at companies who wish to invest in specific individuals, giving them new management tools and exposing them to interaction with participants from other companies and sectors. ESADE’s Program for Management Development (PMD) (offered in Barcelona, Madrid, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Cordova (Argentina) and Curativa (Brazil)), their Senior Executive Programme (SEP) (offered in Barcelona and Madrid) and their new Programme for Leadership Development (PLD) (with modules in St. Gallen, Munich, Berlin and Barcelona) are the schools key offerings in this area.

The structure of the FT Executive ranking is such that 80% for the final score depends on client satisfaction. ESADE’s Executive Education team are particularly good at working with clients, listening to their needs and treating them as partners in the design of the programmes, it was no surprise then that our clients particularly highlighted the school’s excellence in the ‘Preparation’ criteria. This considers, “the level of interaction, the extent to which purchasers’ ideas were integrated; and the effectiveness of the business school in integrating its latest research into the programme”. ESADE’s custom programme clients also highlighted the school’s excellence in teaching materials and in offering programmes overseas.

In open programmes, clients’ were particularly impressed with ESADE’s work with partner schools (a criteria based on the quality of programmes taught with other schools). ESADE is well accustomed to working with other leading schools from across the globe, in all units of the business school (Executive Education, MBA’s, MSc’s, Undergraduate degrees…). Highlights of this year have been the launch of the Global Executive MBA (with Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service and their McDonough School of Business); the Program for Leadership Development with the University of St. Gallen), CSR: Strategic Integration and Competitiveness CSR: Stategic Integration and Competitivness (with Stanford Graduate School of Business) and Beyond Pretty with The Art Center College of Design). Clients also gave high marks to the follow-up ESADE offers after the completion of the programmes, the school’s facilities, its international location (“programmes run outside the schools’ base country and region”).

“We are delighted to be ranked as one of the top ten providers of custom programmes,” stated Jaume Hugas, ESADE’s Director of Executive Education. “The Executive Education team has worked hard at exceeding clients’ expectations, listening to their ideas, and combining them with ESADE’s experience in designing and teaching programmes, to come up with proposals that fit their needs perfectly. Our work with corporate universities, for example, has been particularly ground-breaking. Where other schools are merely dipping their toes in the water, ESADE partnering with corporate universities, creating spaces for them to share experiences and taking the lead in finding the best ways to work together.”

To see the rankings in full, for custom click here for open click here

To read the FT article on Corporate Universities featuring comments from ESADE’s Dean, Alfons Sauquet, click here.