First French B-School to Open U.S. Campus
Created last year by the merger of ESC Lille School of Management and CERAM Business School, SKEMA announced plans last week to build a campus in the United States and will begin offering classes in English to about 300 of its own students on the Raleigh campus of North Carolina State University, beginning in January 2011. The school hopes to have its own 40,000 square foot building open by 2013.
The desire to be near the headquarters of all the big firms is a logical one, and becoming well-known in America provides leverage and visibility throughout the world. “For European students, this is a dream; America is a dream for them,” says Alice Guilhon, the school’s dean, in USA Today. “And it is a dream for us, to be known in the U.S.”
As time goes on, the school may become more distinctly American, but at least for the first few years its faculty, administrators and students will primarily come from France and elsewhere in Europe. “It’s very important that we build the Skema culture in the U.S.,” Guilhon said. “We need to show it works there.”
While SKEMA is the first to actually establish a campus in the U.S., other major European business schools such as IESE and IE Business School have also taken steps recently that go beyond partnerships. Learn more about the expansion plans of European business schools in the original article.
* * * * *
If you are feeling stumped by your application essays and need some additional guidance, check out our NEW series of essay guides for MBA applications. Columbia, Harvard, Kellogg, Stanford and Wharton available now. They are seriously terrific and we are proud to say that almost every person who has ordered one has come back for more!
