1. HEC Business School ranked 1st in Europe in the FT ranking, published in 2006 & 2007. I suppose that’s good news for you, but, apart from that, do you think it’s the result of a long term effort or is it the beginning of a new stage in which HEC has just positioned itself among the best European business schools?
From the beginning in 1881 HEC has been a leader in France for business education. Our successes in Europe and worldwide today are the result of 50 years of reforms designed to open up the school internationally and transform it from a business training centre to a research centre as well. These two main areas of reforms have really started paying off in the last several years as HEC is near or at the top in several business school rankings. However, I can assure you that we aren’t resting on our laurels and continue to work to improve the school further and certainly in close partnership with more than 40000 alumni around the world. Complementing our full range of programs: Masters, MBA, EMBA, TRIUM, PhD; HEC has also launched this year a Part Time MBA as well as a new Master in International Business.
2. In your opinion, what are the key points of HEC’s success and emergence?
One of our major strength is our connection to the business world. As a school of the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry, we are able to call upon businesses to help to improve our courses and research and make them more relevant to the marketplace (see research@hec). This allows us to attract some of the brightest students in Europe and educate them to be future managers and executives in French and international companies. The quality of our students is a major playing card in attracting the best professors to work at HEC, which then attracts better students, and so on. It’s what I call the virtuous circle.
3. In general, what are, in your opinion, the future trends and challenges of the business education ?
One of the main trends that we have been seeing over the past several years is an increase in applications from outside of France. This internationalisation of business education represents a major opportunity for us and our students to learn from other cultures and other business practices. This is particularly relevant for Asia, where future market growth will lead to huge opportunities for doing business, and we need graduates who understand and are able to work in Asian markets.
One of the current main challenges is already to find funding that will enable us to continue to improve our facilities and attract the best students from around the world with more competitive scholarships and recruit world-class professors with higher salaries.
4. Looking at the applications, the market is decreasing in Europe and increasing in Asia. Are Asia and Africa the future of the business schools?
The business education market is now a globalized one and in order to remain competitive we must be at the forefront in emerging markets. That’s why we have been particularly pro-active in forming partnerships with schools in the Asian and African markets. We provide an Executive MBA in China course in collaboration with the SASAC to train high-level executives of Chinese companies, and, in partnership with Tsinghua SEM and the Institut Français de la Mode, we offer an Advanced Management Program in Fashion and Luxury. In Africa we are working in Burkina Faso to train executives in the cotton industry. We have also established a permanent office in Senegal as well as some executive education operations in Ivory Coast. We are continually looking for new ways to expand our presence on these two continents.
5. How does HEC cope with the intense European competition on the business education markets?
At the end of the day, competition is what pushes us to grow and innovate. Without it, things remain stagnant. While it is true many of our major competitors come from Europe, business education market is increasingly globalized so our competitors come from all over the world. Students are now looking outside of their immediate surroundings for the education that best fits their needs, and we need to be prepared to offer them that no matter which continent they come from. The internal competition is certainly a main driver of that success, but much of it comes from cooperation as much as competition. Our bilateral agreements and partnership networks such as CEMS in Europe or with TRIUM Executive MBA jointly offered with NYU Stern School of Business and the London School of Economics have made us stronger than we ever could be on our own.
6. In your case, you are linked to CEMS, along with ESADE and Bocconi. Is Europe your core market? Are you considering entering more deeply in Asia ?
Europe is incredibly important to us. The fact that we have a reputation as one of the best business schools in Europe for all management programs is the main selling point for attracting partners outside Europe. Equally, a strong presence in Asia, with some of the fastest growing economies in the world, is vital to preserve and advance our reputation in Europe. So therefore, while we already have quite a strong presence in China for example, we continue to look for ways to expand and innovate in China and other countries as well.
7. HEC has recently received the largest donation to a French business school from an individual donor. The €5m gift has been given by Philippe Foriel Destezet, the founder of Adecco, the temporary employment group. What’s your opinion on that? Is the endowment the main challenge of European business schools?
Obviously we were delighted to receive such a donation! But it’s true; compared to the size of American universities’ endowment funds, it’s just a start. This does present a great challenge in terms of competitiveness and providing resources to grow and develop the school’s presence. We are working hard to increase the number and size of donations to our Foundation, which isn’t always easy as the philanthropic culture in European education isn’t as strong as it is in the US.
8. In that sense, how important is to strength the alumni network and links to the business schools to increase those individual donors?
Strengthening ties between the alumni community and the school is absolutely vital to increase donations. Ultimately, the alumni have the most personal relationship with the school and they are grateful for what HEC meant to them in their professional careers. Drawing upon this experience while connecting it with both intergenerational solidarity and preserving the reputation of their diploma are key drivers to generate more resources for the School. We are really encouraged to see how tied our alumni are to HEC and how eager they are to associate themselves with our development. We see a huge potential for further engagement. Moreover, the French government has elaborated new regulations to encourage tax-efficient giving to higher education institutions in France, which should help us to increase the number and size of donations to the School.
9. But today there is an enormous gap between American schools and European ones regarding endowments. How can you face that situation?
One way, as I described above, is to increase individual donors and the size of their donations. But we also have to look for more creative ways of obtaining funding. HEC has great links with the business community and they look to us to advance research into certain areas. Through our Foundation, businesses can make one-off or recurring donations to be used generally, or they can partner with the school to offer a donation for a specific purpose, such as providing scholarships to students, offering new facilities, or creating research centres and chairs.
10. But through that huge endowment, American schools can attract the best professors and win the war for the most talented faculty. How do you face that? What can you offer a professor to retain him?
As I mentioned earlier, talented students are a way of attracting the best professors, and having a great reputation helps us to do that. We are able to offer competitive salary packages, we have to increase the size and sources of our funding if we want to maintain and improve our global status.
Bernard RAMANANTSOA
Dean
