2006金融时报MBA排名。

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经济学家信息部国际排名 (2005)

IESE商学院(Iese)

西北大学凯洛格商学院(Northwestern: Kellogg)

达特茅斯学院塔克商学院(Dartmouth: Tuck)

斯坦福大学商学院(Stanford)

瑞士洛桑国际管理学院(IMD)

芝加哥大学商学院(Chicago)

纽约大学斯特恩商学院(NYU: Stern)

密歇根大学罗斯商学院(Michigan: Ross)

哥伦比亚大学商学院(Columbia)

加州大学伯克利分校哈斯商学院(UC Berkeley: Haas)

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《华尔街日报》美国排名 (2005)

达特茅斯学院塔克商学院(Dartmouth: Tuck)

密歇根大学罗斯商学院(Michigan: Ross)

卡耐基-梅隆大学泰珀商学院(Carnegie Mellon: Tepper)

西北大学凯洛格商学院(Northwestern: Kellogg)

耶鲁大学管理学院(Yale)

宾夕法尼亚大学沃顿商学院(Pennsylvania: Wharton)

加州大学伯克利分校哈斯商学院(UC Berkeley: Haas)

哥伦比亚大学商学院(Columbia)

北卡罗来纳大学凯南-弗拉格勒商学院(UNC: Kenan-Flagler)

南加州大学马歇尔商学院(USC: Marshall

vicomte

中欧21啊

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“The FT Global 500 list is a snapshot of capitalism’s Darwinian struggle, in which the fittest companies thrive.”

So began the FT’s most recent survey of the world’s leading companies. It is a measure of the extraordinary influence of Darwin that readers will instantly grasp the reference to his theory of evolution with its emphasis on the “survival of the fittest”. If companies, like natural organisms, find they can flourish in a particular environment, they will have a propensity to grow in number, until the population is checked by scarcity of resources and predators.Growth leads inevitably to a competition for survival, which is relentless, impersonal, self-interested and severe. Darwinian evolution is a dynamic model, and the dynamic process – natural selection – is one where adaptation through “profitable variation” leads to survival. Profitable variations are naturally occurring, differentiating innovations that are preserved and developed by the elimination of the uncompetitive, so that distinctive and

specialised species survive.

And so in Darwin’s natural world, we find growth, competition, scarce resources, innovation, differentiation and the pursuit of self-interest. As a starter pack of things we need to know about management and business, that is a pretty good list.

Fast growing bubbles, which eventually burst, provide the story line for investments over the past 250 years in tulips, canals, railroads, and the recent dotcom bonanza. At a time of annual bonus fever, there can be no doubt that self-interest is alive and well.

Differentiation in product markets is a competitive driver in financial services, electronics, and beverages. Acquisition and retention of the scarcest of resources, senior management talent, provides the storyline for many an FT article on what accounts for survival and success or demise and failure.

In the MBA classroom, we praise Toyota as the exemplar for “continuous improvement”. This could have been Darwin’s subject when he wrote of natural selection, as “daily and hourly scrutinising, throughout the world, every variation, even the slightest; rejecting that which is bad, preserving and adding up all that is good.”*

Darwin’s theory proposes that evolution is fastest where competition is greatest, which has direct analogies with contemporary debates about globalisation, barriers to entry, industry consolidation and the dominance of supply chain management as a determinant of global competition.

And what better learning environment than the natural world is there for today’s networked economy? It is remarkable that our notion of “co-opetition” – which we use to describe value-creating strategies of co-operation among competitors, notably in sectors such as telecomS and healthcare – is self-evident in behaviour patterns in nature.

At Cambridge, Darwin’s alma mater, Judge Business School is benefiting from partnerships with colleagues in other faculties as we develop our own evolutionary strategy as “a great business school at the heart of Cambridge”. We work on corporate governance incollaboration with the faculties of law and economics, on finance with mathematicians and economists, on health and pharma with biotechnologists and clinical specialists, and with colleagues from physical and biological sciences and technology on innovation and entrepreneurship, which is one of our areas of competitive advantage.All our students through business plan competitions, special projects, and

networking events will encounter the local technology cluster of 350 companies that functions as an ecosystem of money, transactions, multiple professional advisers, 10 venture capital and four angel networks and, above all, productively chaotic sets of willing buddies, who will share contacts and lessons from hard knocks and heart throbbing success, as well, of course, as that great dynamic force of ideas within and around the university.

Cambridge is the premier cluster in Europe for venture capitalists. In 2004, 10 per cent of European venture funds came to within a few miles of the university’s ancient centre, to a region which at the time contained 0.1 per cent of the population of Europe.

These developments would not surprise Darwin; he was alert to the benefits of clusters. Noting that very rare plants are often abundant wherever they occur, Darwin observed “the necessity of a large stock of the same species for its preservation” and concludes that “a plant could exist only where the conditions of its life were so favourable that many could exist together, and thus save each other from utter destruction.”*

Experience shows that most start-up technology companies fail, some succeed, and a few hit the jackpot. But while failure of an individual company is likely, failure of a cluster is farless so, because profitable variation is more likely, given the infrastructure, externalities and inter-dependencies of the cluster. By the reallocation of resources, the benefits of the variation can in effect be shared by the community as a whole.

The smart business angel knows that she does not preside over a series of calculable net present values, but rather over the outcome of a Darwinian struggle and – often with the help of a Judge Business school specialist in real options or portfolio management – she will create an investment portfolio.

So, can we not only start but also finish our management course with Darwin? Does he say it all? Not quite, but he does gives a hint of where we need to look for further illumination.

For Darwin, nature provides the most demanding benchmark, and he challenges: “Can we wonder, then, that nature’s production?.?.?.?should plainly bear the stamp of far higher workmanship?*. But what accounts for that stamp of winning workmanship in business?To answer this question, one needs to look beyond the Darwinian emphasis on inevitability, chance and “naturally occurring” innovations to explain business success. Innovation does indeed drive competition and there will be an

element of serendipity and luck in lighting on the winning brand image, electronic gizmo, or pharma-chemical compound. But beyond luck, there is human agency, judgment, talent and creativity, that can alter some “naturally occurring path”.

The talent may lie in exploiting scientific discovery, or in creating motivational strategies which compel a competitive commitment to service quality, or in developing the capacity for extreme and rare cultural sensitivity that allows one to reap clear benefits of cross-border alliances and acquisitions if only the social issues can be solved. In short, people can make a profound difference to the “naturally occurring path”.

What is more, those of us engaged in business education believe we can help people be better equipped to make a difference. For this we can build on Darwin: to understand the immanent laws of the market; to understand that survival will be secured through tough competition, to understand the role of innovation and differentiation and to be smarter and better and thereby to create more value for our customers than our competitors.

Yet at the same time we cannot rely on chance; the forces in business are not what Darwin called impersonal, they are above all human creations, which among other trends are now pointing to the long term business benefits of collaboration and even altruism to complement those that arise from competition and narrow self-interest.*Charles Darwin (1859), The Origin of Species (reprinted in Penguin Classics

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剑桥大学商学院院长道森：在达尔文看来，大自然为我们提供了最为严苛的、适者生存的标准。他进一步追问：万物诞生的背后是否有着更深的奥秘？而我们要问的是：商场背后成功的奥秘又是什么？

作者：剑桥大学商学院院长桑德拉·道森（Sandra Dawson）

“物竞天择，适者生存。《金融时报》的全球500强企业排行榜是达尔文进化论在资本主义社会中的真实写照。”

这是《金融时报》最近一次全球领先企业榜系列报道的开场白。读者们不难发现，这一排名处处体现了其进化论中反复强调的“适者生存”的观念。企业就如同自然界中生长的物种，一旦发现适合自己兴旺发展的特定环境，它们自然就会生生繁衍，直至受到资源稀缺或者天敌的威胁而无法继续增长其数量为止。

物种数量的增长将不可避免地引发生存竞争，而竞争是无情、冷酷、利己和严峻的。达尔文的进化论是一个动态的模型，在这个动态过程（即自然选择的过程）中，物种通过 “有利变异（profitable variation）” 来适应环境，并最终得以生存。有利变异是自然发生的，随着无竞争力的物种的消亡，差异化的创新得以保存和发展，并最终让有特殊和专业技能的物种生存下来。

因此，在达尔文的自然世界中，我们会经常看到增长、竞争、稀缺资源、创新、差异化以及追逐个人利益等现象。对于想要了解企业管理秘诀的人来说，应先从理解和掌握这些观念着手。

泡沫迅速增长，并最终破灭，这是250年以来各种投资热潮中不变的主题，例如郁金香热、运河热、铁路热，以及近期的互联网投资热等。在一个人人热切期盼更多年终奖金的时代，“利己主义”毫无疑问是不会消亡的，而且会继续大行其道。

在金融服务业、电子行业和饮料行业中，产品差异化是推动企业发展的竞争手段。《金融时报》的很多文章都讨论过企业生存或成功、倒闭或失败的原因，从中你可以读到一样不变的主题，那就是获取与保留稀缺资源和高级管理人才。

在商学院的课堂里，丰田公司常被誉为“持续改进”的典范。实际上，持续改进和当年达尔文撰写自然选择论文时的研究课题异曲同工，因为自然选择就是“时刻观察世界各个角落的每一个变化（哪怕是最细微的变化），并在抛弃不利变化的同时保持和积累有利变化的过程”*。

达尔文的进化论认为，竞争最激烈的地方也是进化最快的地方，这和今天关于全球竞争的决定性因素——全球化、准入壁垒、行业整合、供应链管理优势等的争论有着非常相似的地方。

在当今的网络化经济时代，还有什么带给我们的启示能比自然界带来的更好呢？我们现在常用“竞合”（co-opetition）一词来描述与竞争对手合作而创造价值的战略，在电信和医疗等领域这一战略更为常见。显然，这个所谓“竞合”的理念也是从自然界的行为模式中脱胎而来的。

在达尔文的母校剑桥大学，Judge商学院也正从与其它系科的合作中获益。我们制定了自己的发展战略，将自己定位为“坐落在剑桥中心位置的一所伟大的商学院”。我们与法学和经济学的教授合作研究企业治理；与数学家和经济学家合作研究金融；与生物技术学家和临床专家合作研究医学和药理学；与来自物理和生物科技学科的同事合作研究创新及创业。目前，创新及创业研究已经发展成为我们极具竞争优势的研究领域。

通过积极参与创业计划竞赛、特别项目建设和联谊活动等，我们所有的学生都能与当地多达350家科技公司的企业群接触。这些来自不同行业的公司形成了一个经济生态系统，囊括投资、交易和各类专业咨询的各个领域。学生还可与10家风险投资公司和4个天使投资网络建立联系。最重要的是，这些公司卓有成效地组成了诸多自发性的联盟，共享人脉信息、成败经验以及校园内外的人才资源，后者正是为其带来创新理念的生力军。

剑桥是欧洲最重要的风险投资家聚集地。以剑桥最古老的中心地带为核心，方圆几英里之内只聚积了欧洲千分之一的人口，但是在2004年，10%的欧洲风险基金都蜂拥到了这一地区。

对于这种集群效应所带来的利益，达尔文早有先见之明。他曾指出，很少有什么植物在任何环境里都能够大量繁殖。达尔文观察到，“任何一个物种要想保留下来，先决条件就是该物种必须能够大量存在”，并由此得出结论：“只有当一个物种的生存条件相当优越，有利于同一物种大量繁殖时，它才能生存下来，免遭毁灭” 。

经验表明，大部分技术类的创业公司都失败了，只有部分取得成功，能够创造大量财富的更是凤毛麟角。不过，尽管某一特定公司失败的可能性极大，但整个技术类行业都惨遭失败的可能性却极小。因为作为群体，它们已经奠定了坚实的行业基础，并且对外形成了强大的抵抗力，内部则相互支持和依赖，因此，发生有利变异的可能性大大增加。通过资源再分配，变异所带来的好处实际上将被整个群体所分享。

精明的投资家都明白，他不需要去掌控那一系列可计算净现值的现金流，而只需掌握达尔文“优胜劣汰，适者生存”的理论。因此 ，他会在Judge商学院实物期权或投资组合专家的帮助下，去构建一个投资组合。

那么，我们的管理学课程是否只要从头到尾讲授一遍达尔文的进化论就完事了呢？达尔文的理论是否涵盖了管理学的方方面面呢？可能并非如此，但是他的确启发了我们，让我们意识到需要在哪些方面进一步深思。

在达尔文看来，大自然为我们提供了最为严苛的判断标准。他进一步追问：“那么，我们是否可以设想，自然万物诞生的背后有着更深的奥秘呢？”可是，在商业社会中创造成功的奥秘又是什么呢？

要回答这一问题，我们的思维不能局限于达尔文的进化论，不能一味强调创新的必然性、机遇和“自发性”。的确，创新可以引发竞争，而不期而遇的机遇和运气也帮助了不少人打赢品牌之战，或者发明出电子产品，抑或研制出新的医药化工产品。但除了机遇之外，主观能动性、判断力、人的才能和创造力都在一定程度上改变“自然发生的过程”。

人类的才能能够帮助人们在科学探索中获得发现，制定出激励战略以激发对服务质量的精益求精，培养出敏锐的文化敏感性，从而在社会问题得到解决的前提下从跨行业的联盟和并购中获益。总之，人们可以在很大程度上影响“自然发生的过程”。

而且，我们这些致力于商业教育的人们总是相信，我们可以用知识武装人们，帮助他们更好地改变“自然发生的过程”。因此，我们从达尔文的进化论中可以得到这样的启示：我们必须理解市场的固有法则，理解只有历经艰苦竞争才能最终生存的道理，理解创新和差异化的力量，只有这样，我们才能更优秀、更聪明，才能击败竞争对手，为客户创造出更多价值。

同时，我们不应寄希望于运气。而且商业社会也不是达尔文所说的那样无情，因为说到底，商业力量是人所创造的。当前的趋势是越来越推崇合作甚至利他主义，顺应这一潮流便能取得长期的商业利益，从而减少竞争和狭隘的利己主义所带来的弊端。

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经历长达四年的怀疑和绝望后，多数商学院相信，MBA市场已经稳定。就薪资水平而言，麻省理工学院职业发展中心主任维尔布指出，在高盛的推动下，美国银行业已将底薪提高了1万美元，达到9.5万美元。

作者：英国《金融时报》德拉#布拉德肖（Della Bradshaw）

最近一段时间，美国的商学院终于“松了一口气”。由于MBA毕业生在招聘市场上遇冷以及申请入学人数的减少，这些院校曾经历了四年的怀疑、否定和绝望期。而现在的形势则让大部分学校相信，MBA市场已开始稳定下来。其中较为乐观的一些院校认为，好日子就在前头了。

对商学院来说极为关键的两个指标——希望聘用该校MBA毕业生的招聘单位数量和申请就读该校MBA的学生人数——现在看起来都很乐观。

衡量前一个的指标的是毕业生在2005年享受的薪资水平和前来这些美国学校招聘的单位数量。麻省理工学院（MIT）职业发展中心主任杰奎琳#维尔布（Jacqueline Wilbur）说，在高盛（Goldman Sachs）的率领下，银行业将底薪提高了1万美元，达到9.5万美元。她说，这是自1996年来底薪的第一次上升。各大咨询公司也把底薪提高了5,000美元。科技公司重新开始了校园招聘，并且不再

以期权作为薪资，而是直接支付现金薪水。

“(在麻省理工) 商学院毕业生的平均底薪已经涨到了10万美元。”维尔布女士说。纽约哥伦比亚商学院的情况也差不多。该院院长格伦#哈巴德（Glenn Hubbard）表示，去年得到2到3份工作录用意向的毕业生人数有所上升。“校园招聘的情况要比上世纪90年代后期更加理想。”

考虑到哥伦比亚大学靠近华尔街，因此可以想见的是，其中很多工作机会均来自银行和金融业。哈巴德教授说，现在华尔街所关心的问题是，一场企业间的人才争夺战已经打响。

《金融时报》2006年全球MBA排行榜的就业统计数据证实了这一点。例如，在2002年，全美排行前10名的商学院毕业生中，有12%的人在毕业3个月后还没有工作。但在今年的统计中，这些学校的毕业生中，毕业3个月后还在找工作的只有8%。

在那些排名稍低的学校里，今年的情况则有了更为明显的改善。2002年，康奈尔大学商学院仅有74%的毕业生在毕业3个月以内找到了工作，在加州大学洛杉矶分校安德森商学院，这个数字是73%。而在2005年，两校的数字分别是88%和94%。

MBA项目的申请人数一直都很起伏动荡。2005年入学的MBA班中，世界各地的申请人数仍然很少，有人估计申请人数下降了30%。例如在英国，除了牛津大学的赛德学院（Sa?d），几乎所有学校的申请和入学人数都下降了。但是根据西北大学凯洛格学院助理院长贝斯#伏莱（Beth Flye）的说法，随着2006年秋季学期的入学申请开始，人们有理由对形势表示乐观。“我们预计，(美国)MBA的申请和入学人数]会稳健增长，一直持续到2010年。”她的乐观也许是有充分依据的。

美国人口普查局（US Bureau of the Census）的最新统计数据表明，全世界25至29岁之间的成年人口数量将从2005年的5.1亿攀升至2015年的6亿，这些人正是MBA项目的目标人群。

同期在北美，这个年龄段的人口也将从2,200万增加到2,450万。在欧洲（包括西欧和东欧），这个年龄段人口数量将会下降。最大的增长来自亚洲。潜在的MBA学员适龄人口将从2005年的2.9亿增加到2015年的3.5亿人。预计拉丁美洲该年龄段的人口也将有显著增长。

位于多伦多的约克大学斯古里克商学院（Schulich）院长德佐#霍瓦斯（Dezs? Horváth）说，这个趋势意味着MBA目标人群的增长将来自那些现今只拥有少量MBA项目的地区。商学院如果要吸引到最优秀的学生，就必须采用更加国际化的办学手段。霍瓦斯教授认为：“商学院将像企业一样跨国发展。教学更多的将通过合作伙伴来完成。”

很多美国商学院已经看到了这一趋势。比如马里兰大学的史密斯商学院（Smith）早在2001年就开始在中国开办了其第一个海外项目。如今，该院已经在四大洲开展MBA项目——北美洲（华盛顿）、欧洲（苏黎世）、亚洲（北京和上海）和非洲（突尼斯）。

“如果你想成为一个世界级的商学院，而又不打算跨国发展，那基本上是行不通的。”史密斯商学院的副院长斯各特#考威尔（Scott Koerwer）说，“那些尚未开始跨国进程的学校将会失败。”

这个理念也慢慢在美国学生中传播开来。尽管他们中的绝大多数人——超过98%的人——仍然在申请美国商学院，但据管理学研究生招生协会（GMAC）的最新统计，有越来越多的人正在考虑去西欧读MBA。

2000年，美国人向西欧的商学院发出了2,305份GMAC考试成绩单。2005年是3,701份，增长了62%。

美国学生经常申请的是诸如欧洲工商管理学院（Insead）和伦敦商学院（London Business School）之类的大牌院校，但是今年巴黎高等商学院（HEC）表示，美国已成为该校最大的生源地。“今年就读我校MBA项目的美国学生比法国学生还多。”HEC的MBA项目副院长瓦勒热#古西尔（Valérie Gauthier）说。“这类学生大多申请过美国和欧洲两种体系下的商学院，但是他们最后选择了欧洲。”

将于今年夏天就任欧洲工商管理学院院长的弗兰克#布朗（Frank Brown）认为，在美国学生开始青睐文化多元化的欧洲MBA教育体系的同时，欧洲的院校仍需要努力说服美国的机构到欧洲进行招聘。“这是一个巨大的机会。”身为美国人的布朗先生说道，“当我向美国公司介绍欧洲工商管理学院的时候，他们都感到十分惊奇。”他说，美国人以前没有认识到，欧洲工商管理学院的学生具有如此多元化的文化背景。

布朗先生还认为，一年制的MBA教学模式对于美国公司会越来越有吸引力。在美洲，一些商学院已经开始把它们的MBA教学时间缩短到了12个月。

西安大略大学毅伟管理学院（Ivey）的院长卡萝尔#斯蒂文森（Carol Stephenson）相信，一年制MBA是未来的趋势。

她指出：“学生们想要集中精力尽快完成MBA课程。”脱产学习两年的机会成本实在太高了。

在阿根廷，顶尖的商学院IAE也将其课程时间从16个月压缩到了12个月，从而提高了对学生（其中包括海外生源）的吸引力。院长费南多#弗拉圭罗（Fernando Fragueiro）认为，企业对于MBA认识的转变是一年制项目走俏的原因之一。“现在人们认为，MBA只是(管理者职业生涯的)第一步……在之后的道路上则将由企业提供拓展技能的机会。”

在美国，转向一年制体系的学校也越来越多。加州大学圣迭戈分校拉迪商学院（Rady）院长罗伯特#萨利文（Robert Sullivan）希望将他的学校的MBA项目缩减到12个月。他相信其他美国商学院转到一年制体系下只是一个时间问题。“我认为这是毫无疑问的。”他说道。他还预计，即使是那些最顶尖的美国商学院，也可能会开始做这方面的尝试。

The sighs of relief at US business schools are almost audible these days. After four years of disbelief, denial and despair, as recruiters turned their backs on MBAs and the applicant pools dried up, most schools are convinced the MBA market has stabilised. Indeed, the more optimistic believe that good days are ahead.

The two key indicators for business schools – the number of recruiters who want to employ their graduates and the number of students applying for their programmes – are both looking rosy.

The first indicator was the salaries paid to graduates in 2005 and the number of recruiters who visited US campuses. The banking industry, led by Goldman Sachs, raised the base salary it offered by $10,000, to $95,000, says Jacqueline Wilbur, director of the career development office at MIT. This was the first rise in base salaries since 1996, she says. The big consultancy firms also raised their basic salaries by $5,000. Technology companies were back recruiting and paying salaries rather than options.

“The average base salary was bumping up to $100,000 [at MIT],” says Ms Wilbur. At Columbia in New York City, it is a similar story. Dean Glenn Hubbard says the number of graduates with three or more job offers rose last year. “On-campus recruiting is more robust than even in the late 1990s.”

Not surprisingly given Columbia’s location close to Wall Street, many of the job offers are in banking and finance. Prof Hubbard says a concern in Wall Street is that companies are in a scramble for talent.

The employment statistics reported for MBA2006, the Financial Times ranking of global MBA programmes, verify the anecdotes. In 2002, for example, 12 per cent cent of graduates from the top 10 US schools were without a job three months after graduation. The statistics reported from the top 10 schools in this year’s ranking show that just 8 per cent were still looking for a job in the same timeframe.

For schools lower down the rankings, the discrepancy was much higher. At Cornell, only 74 per cent of the students who graduated in 2002 had a job within three months and at the Anderson school at UCLA the figure was 73 per cent. In 2005, the figures were 88 and 94 per cent respectively.

More fragile are the numbers of applicants looking for a place on an MBA programme. For the entering class of 2005, figures were still very low across the world, with some estimates putting the number of applicants down as much as 30 per cent. In the UK, for example, almost every school except the Sa?d school at Oxford University has seen application and enrolment numbers fall. But as applications begin to roll in for the class that will start in autumn 2006, there is a real sense of optimism, says Beth Flye, assistant dean at the Kellogg school at Northwestern University. “[In the US] we predict steady growth through 2010.” Her optimism may have sound grounding.

Recent statistics from the US Bureau of the Census show that the growth in the worldwide population of adults between the age of 25 and 29 – the target age group for MBA programmes – is set to climb steeply from 510m in 2005 to 600m in 2015.

In North America over the same period the growth in the number of people in this age range is also set to grow from 22m to 24.5m.In Europe (both western and eastern) the population will fall, according to the statistics. The biggest growth, though, will be in the number of potential MBA students in Asia, up from 290m in 2005 to 350m in 2015. Numbers in Latin America in the same age group are also set to grow strongly.

This means the growth in the MBA population will be in geographical areas where there are few MBA programmes today, points out Dezs? Horváth, dean of the Schulich school at York University in Toronto. All this means that business schools will have to become more international in their approach if they are to attract the brightest students, he says.

“MBA programmes are going to become more trans-national,” argues Prof Horváth, much more like corporations. “There will be more delivery through partnerships.”

Many US business schools have already seen the writing on the wall. The Smith school at the University of Maryland, for example, started running its first overseas programmes in China as recently as 2001, but today it is running programmes on four continents: North America (Washington), Europe (Zürich), Asia (Beijing and Shanghai) and Africa (Tunis).

“If you want to be a world class college of business and if you’re not engaged in a multi-national arena, then it fundamentally doesn’t work,” says Scott Koerwer, associate dean at the Smith school. “Institutions that don’t begin this process now are going to fail.”

It is a message that is very slowly getting through to US students, too. Although the overwhelming majority of them – more than 98 per cent – still apply to US business schools, a growing number see western Europe as a place to study for an MBA, according to the latest statistics from GMAC (Graduate Management Admissions Council).

In 2000, US citizens sent 2,305 GMAC test scores to western European business schools. In 2005 the figure was 3,701, a 62 per cent increase.

US students have often frequented the big name schools such as Insead and London Business School, but this year HEC Paris reports that its largest student group is from the US.

“There are more Americans on the programme than French,” says Valérie Gauthier, associate dean for the MBA at HEC.

”The profiles are of people who tried the US and European systems and then chose the European one.”

While US students are beginning to favour the multicultural European system, dean-in-waiting at Insead, Frank Brown, who will take up his role this summer, believes there is much still to do to persuade US organisations to recruit in Europe. “This is a huge opportunity,” says Mr Brown, himself an American. “They [US corporations] are amazed when I tell them about Insead.” In particular, they are unaware of the multi-cultural profile of the students at Insead, he says.

Mr Brown also believes that the one-year MBA model will increasingly appeal to US corporations. In the Americas, some business schools have already cut their programmes to 12 months.

At the Ivey school at the University of Western Ontario, dean Carol Stephenson believes the one-year model is the way forward.

“Students want to focus on it [the MBA], do it and get it done,” she argues: the opportunity cost of taking two years out of the workplace is too high.

In Argentina, leading business school IAE has reduced the length of its programme from 16 to 12 months and attracted an increasing number of students, including from overseas. The changing perception of the MBA in corporations is one reason for the popularity of the one-year programmes, argues dean Fernando Fragueiro. “The MBA is now seen as a first step [in a management career]...with companies giving further opportunities for managers to develop skills.”

In the US there is a growing number of converts to the one-year system. Robert Sullivan, dean of the Rady school at UC San Diego, hopes to reduce the length of his programme to 12 months and believes it is only a matter of time before other US schools introduce one-year programmes. “I think there’s no question,” he says.

Indeed, he predicts that even some of the very top US schools may bite the bullet.