That is why globalizing the Graduate School of Business became one of my overarching priorities. We just took an important step toward that goal when we announced the establishment of an Asian campus, expanding our Executive M.B.A. Program to Singapore. But what does it mean to be a global business school, exactly? To me, it means many things.
First and foremost, every class we teach must be a global course, as opposed to a parochial one. Whether they are taught in Hyde Park, Gleacher Center, Barcelona, Singapore, or cyberspace, our courses will incorporate business practices and research that encompass the world. One way of incorporating that international perspective is to hire faculty from around the world, and we do. Approximately 30 percent of our current tenure-track faculty members were born and educated outside of the United States.
Second, the student body must be global, so that learning in and out of the classroom is enriched by a wide diversity of viewpoints and experiences. International students now make up 32 percent of our full-time M.B.A. program; exchange programs bring students to Chicago from 26 universities abroad. The International M.B.A. Program, with its internship abroad, language requirement, and international business concentration, is graduating its fifth class this spring. In our International Executive M.B.A. Program in Barcelona, the 77 students in our first-year class represent 29 countries; in the second-year class, there are 81 students representing 24 nations.
Third, our campuses themselves must not draw boundaries between cultures or people. We must create facilities where living and learning go hand in hand and where the resulting sense of community fosters global thinking and problem solving. As many of you know, we’ve been talking for some time about enlarging and upgrading our facilities in Hyde Park to address these needs and opportunities. We’re working hard on this project, and we hope to have some exciting news to share by the end of the summer.
Fourth, the reputation of the school must be global. We want Chicago to stand for a business education that is universally known and universally applicable, and we’re working to spread that word.
Fifth, our alumni are found throughout the world. Today they live and work in 80 countries, and there are 24 international alumni clubs. Wherever graduates travel in their careers, they are seldom far from a network of Chicago-trained professionals.
And finally, we must offer global job opportunities, with international firms participating in our recruiting process. A secondary job market evolves when alumni around the world seek to hire fellow graduates.
Naturally, every business school seeks to offer a global education. We set ourselves apart with innovation and the Chicago stamp of excellence. With Singapore, as with Barcelona, we are establishing a permanent campus with 100 percent of the courses taught by our own famous faculty. We offer a modular program that fits executives’ schedules and provides unique opportunities to learn with and from fellow executives in Chicago. This adds up to an unparalleled educational opportunity.
Being a truly global school means that our research seeks to understand both multinational conglomerates and microbusinesses in developing economies. It means that we will continue to attract scholars from all over the world who will extend the scope of business research. It means that we will teach our students, wherever they are, to be the most effective businesspeople they can be anywhere in the world.
Robert S. Hamada
Dean and Edward Eagle Brown Distinguished Service Professor of Finance
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