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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.”

Global paper The Financial Times publishes its “ranking of rankings”

ESADE Business School has moved up three positions to place eighth in the Financial Times European Business School ranking published today. An amalgamation of the programme-focused rankings published by the FT throughout the year (MBA, EMBA, MSc and Executive Education) this ranking of rankings is intended to give an overview of the business schools as a whole.

ESADE took part in all the Financial Times rankings concerned, with the exception of the EMBA ranking, the school moved up in all those it was rated in. In the MBA ranking, ESADE holds seventh place in Europe, in MSc’s, eighth, in Open Executive Education Programmes, ninth and in Custom Executive Education Programmes, fifth. The school’s steady improvement in the rankings reflects its commitment to excellence in all its programmes and particularly its rapid response and ability to adapt to changes in the needs of participants, client companies and recruiters.

This year saw ESADE launch the world’s first flexible MBA, which students can choose to study in 12, 16 or 18 months depending on their specific needs. The ESADE MBA class of 2010/11, with 87% of its participants from outside of Spain, hailing from some 45 countries, is also the most international it has ever been.

The school’s MSc programmes are enjoying the extra room for growth derived from their move to ESADE’s purpose-built San Cugat Campus, just outside Barcelona. International students from all over the world are attracted to the Master in International Management, Master in Marketing Management and the new Master in Finance.

In the area Open Executive Education programmes, last month ESADE launched a new Advanced Management Programme (AMP) offered in Madrid and Barcelona with an intensive module at Wharton, while the school’s Program for Management Development (PMD) – offered in Spain (Barcelona and Madrid), Argentina (Buenos Aires and Cordova) Uruguay (Montevideo) and Brazil (Curativa and Campinas) – continues to be popular along with the ESADE-St Gallen Programme for Leadership Development (PLD) (with modules in St. Gallen, Munich, Berlin and Barcelona).

ESADE’s custom programmes, 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, were rated particularly highly by the FT, reflecting the excellent levels of client satisfaction with the programmes. ESADE is heavily involved in corporate universities as well and organises a an annual forum on developments in this area. Clients of custom programmes include Telefonica, Bunge, Price Waterhouse Coopers, Intermon Oxfam, IBM, Kpmg, Wagonlit, and Deutsche Bank, among others.

“With the opening of the ESADE San Cugat Campus and the neighbouring open innovation centre, ESADECREAPOLIS, the hiring of a number of new international professors and a plethora of great developments at a programme level, 2009 has been a busy yet rewarding year for ESADE, we are pleased that the ranking reflects this” states Alfons Sauquet, Dean of ESADE Business School.

To see the full ranking click here

To read the interview with ESADE Dean Alfons Sauquet published in the Financial Times today 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.