MBA News Bites
A college degree is worth the cost, says Gary Becker, professor of economics and of sociology at Chicago GSB. College-educated people are healthier, their children achieve more, they respond better to crises, and they manage financial assets better, he says. These advantages are the result of a combination of factors, including more emphasis on knowledge and information in the modern economy than even 30 years ago.
At the INSEAD Leadership Summit 2008, transcultural leader Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Renault, Nissan, says “One of the basics of transcultural leadership is empathy. I would say even though the term today is not very popular, love the country and love the culture in which you are in. And try to learn about its strengths, don’t focus on the weaknesses, and make sure that all the people you are transferring with you are of the same opinion.”
A university in Milan, Italy, shops for professors elsewhere, Inside Higher Ed reported this week. Bocconi University is in the midst of a “shopping spree” for international academics to help its effort to turn a corner on Europe’s decades-old reality of intellectual flight.
A partnership formed in 2001 to establish academic ties between Wharton and INSEAD is to continue for another four years, the Financial Times has reported. The renewed alliance between Wharton at the University of Pennsylvania and INSEAD, with campuses in both Fontaine-bleau, France and Singapore, will have an increased emphasis on collaborative faculty research and alumni networking initiatives.
Business Week notes that some B-schools are staging career events earlier in the calendar due to the softening job market. Career services officers are urging students, especially first-years, to start thinking about their internship and job hunts earlier than ever before.
Business schools are moving quickly to harness the power of cyberspace chats to tap students from around the world, says the Wall Street Journal. Many MBA programs are setting up their own social-networking sites and blogs, making it easy for prospective applicants to contact both current students and graduates.
According to the QS TopMBA Applicant Survey 2008, international flexibility is one of the most compelling reasons for getting an MBA. Most business school graduates want to spend at least part of their careers working overseas, improving their language skills and gaining invaluable experience of foreign cultures.
