Economist Intelligence Unit presents 13 awards for excellence in executive education

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Economist Intelligence Unit presents 13 awards for excellence in executive education
By Finfacts Team
Dec 12, 2006, 06:42

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IESE Business School was founded in 1958 in Barcelona, as the graduate business school of the University of Navarra. Initially, the school offered an array of executive education programs for managers, at a time when the concept of executive education was scarcely known outside of the United States. The establishment of these programs, aimed mainly at experienced business leaders, constituted a landmark in the history of executive education in Europe. Since then, more than 15,000 CEOs, presidents, owners and general managers of leading corporations have taken part in such programs.

Thirteen business schools, located in four countries, have been given the Economist Intelligence Unit's award for excellence in its latest survey of executive education programmes*. The survey rated both open-enrolment and customised courses, and judged schools by their ability to deliver on the areas judged most important by a panel of over 200 senior executives.

Four schools, IE and IESE in Spain, Penn State in the US and York in Canada, were rated in the top tier for both their open-enrolment and customised programmes. In addition Wisconsin-Madison, Washington St. Louis, Northwestern and Rice (all US) were given awards for their open-enrolment programmes, while Ohio, Chicago, Georgetown and Washington University (all US) and Cape Town in South Africa were recognised for their custom programmes.

Bill Ridgers, editor of the survey, commented: "Tomorrow’s business leaders will need an increasingly wide range of skills. For those with gaps in their knowledge, executive education programmes are an important way of plugging the holes. But as with any type education, it’s not just about choosing the right course, it’s also about going to the right institution."

Schools' executive education programmes can be divided into two categories. "Open" programmes have traditionally been schools' bread-and-butter; each year a school will offer a schedule of programmes, in areas such as finance, leadership or marketing, which are open to executives from any company. However, the biggest growth can be found in "custom" courses, which are tailored by business schools for specific companies and can be linked directly to issues within that company, such as strategic change.

*short, non-degree executive courses

The results

Open programmes
The Economist Intelligence Unit survey of senior executives found that there were ten areas that they felt were important to consider when choosing an open programme provider:

content of the programme
internationalism of the programme
faculty quality
provider’s amenities
quality of fellow participants
level of post-course support for participants
ability to demonstrate impact back in the workplace
maintaining an ongoing relationship
cost/value for money
wide range of courses

Based on these criteria, we then asked around 2,000 participants on open programmes to rate the schools they attended. We added to this some data provided by the schools - such as their level of repeat business - to produce an overall school rating for open programmes. Eight schools were awarded an overall rating of “excellent”, with a further four rated as “good”.

Schools rated as "excellent"

		Rating
School	Country	(out of 5)
University of Wisconsin-Madison—Graduate School of Business	US	4.3
IESE Business School—University of Navarra	Spain	4.2
Washington University in St Louis—Olin School of Business	US	4.2
York University - Schulich School of Business	Canada	4.2
IE—Instituto de Empresa	Spain	4.1
Northwestern University—Kellogg School of Management	US	4.1
Pennsylvania State University—Smeal College of Business	US	4.1
Rice University—Jesse H Jones Graduate School of Management	US	4.1

“We are delighted to celebrate our 60th anniversary by looking to the future, something our clients have always relied upon us to do well. The Economist Intelligence Unit has progressed a great deal in terms of output over the last 60 years but our guiding principles remain the same: independence of thought, authority of judgment and clarity of expression. We look forward to helping our customers to understand the world’s opportunities and risks for the next sixty years and beyond.”

Schools rated as "good"

		Rating
School	Country	(out of 5)
University of Cape Town—Graduate School of Business	South Africa	4.0
University of Chicago—Graduate School of Business	US	4.0
Indian Institute of Management—Ahmedabad	India	4.0
Thunderbird—The Garvin School of International Management	US	4.0

Customised programmes
As with open programmes, we asked senior executives what they were looking for in a custom provider. There were nine major factors:

ability to understand issues specific to your company
faculty quality
provider’s amenities
level of post-course support for participants
ability to demonstrate impact back in the workplace
maintaining an ongoing relationship
cost/value for money
flexibility/ability to customise the programme
wide range of expertise

This time, ratings were given by those within companies responsible for purchasing a customised programme. Again, data provided by the schools was also used. Nine schools were awarded an overall rating of “excellent” and three rated as “good”.

Schools rated as "excellent"

		Rating
School	Country	(out of 5)
Pennsylvania State University—Smeal College of Business	US	4.6
IESE Business School—University of Navarra	Spain	4.4
Ohio State University—Fisher College of Business	US	4.4
University of Cape Town—Graduate School of Business	South Africa	4.3
University of Chicago—Graduate School of Business	US	4.3
Georgetown University—Robert Emmet McDonough School of Business	US	4.3
IE—Instituto de Empresa	Spain	4.3
University of Washington—Business School	US	4.3
York University—Schulich School of Business	Canada	4.3

Schools rated as "good"

		Rating
School	Country	(out of 5)
ESADE Business School	Spain	4.2
Rice University—Jesse H Jones Graduate School of Management	US	4.2
Washington University in St Louis—Olin School of Business	US	4.2

The executive education ratings are taken from the
18th edition of Which MBA?, the authoritative guide to executive education around the world.