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Leading the MBA: The Good, the Bad & the Ugly
EFMD with the support of the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), has great pleasure in inviting you and your business school to attend the 2013 EFMD MBA Conference that will be hosted by IMD in Lausanne, Switzerland from the 17-19 of March.
mba2013cover
The conference will explore the role of the Programme Director under the theme “Leading the MBA: The Good, the Bad & the Ugly” and will include a tailor made case "The MBA Director’s Dilemma” that will address some of the key challenges encountered by Programme Directors.
The conference will be Chaired by Giulio Toscani, Director of the MBA Programme at EADA, Spain. The event brings together the global community of MBA directors (full-time, part-time, distance learning or executive) to share and exchange ideas whilst providing practical tools and examples that are applicable in day-to-day life. It also offers a great networking opportunity to collaborate internationally and build your own network of MBA contacts around the world. If you are involved in leading an MBA programme this is a key annual event that you must attend so please register now to join peers from: IMD, esmt, EADA, LBS, Bocconi, BI, Lancaster and more.
In addition, we have scheduled the following sessions:
>Developing Partnerships & Portfolio Expansion Strategies
>Julia Marsh, Director MiM, LBS, UK
>Creating Positive Group Dynamics
>John Sadowsky, Professor of Leadership and Marketing, Grenoble Ecole de Management, FR
>Trends in Graduate Management Education                                                                                                  
>Deborah Somers, Associate Director, EMEA, GMAC ®, UK
>Media: Developing Key Messages about You and Your Programme
>Teresa Martini, Consultant, Ex-International Producer at CNN, UK
>Learning how to Learn
>Sonja Zaar, Director MBA programmes and International Projects at Maastricht University School of Business and Economics, NL
>Corporate Panel
Are employers actually aware of the programme details when hiring your MBAs? Can they really tell the difference between a specialised Masters Programme and an MBA? What in-house training do they provide and how relevant are business schools to them?
    Innovation in Blended Learning …and much more to come!
More information about this event is available via the EFMD website.
We very much look forward to seeing you in Lausanne next spring - if you have any questions or require any further information please contact Diana Grote - diana.grote@efmd.org
Posted by: Matthew Wood
Created on: Thu 17 January 2013 00:00
Female Breadwinners: How Gender Roles Impact Income & Marriage
chicagoNew research shows how gender roles impact income and make marriage less happy

For all the progress women have made in the past few decades – in education, work force participation, and earnings – a gender gap remains. Research by economist Marianne Bertrand, Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, suggests that this may be due to social norms, namely the expectation that a woman should make less money than her husband.

In a new working paper co-written by Chicago Booth colleague Emir Kamenica, an associate professor of economics, and Jessica Pan, an assistant professor at the National University of Singapore, the research finds the notion that “a man should earn more than his wife” impacts everything from marriage rates, to household chores, to how much a married woman works outside of the home. Moreover, women who deviate from that norm pay a social price.

In the US, it has become commonplace for women to out-earn their husbands. That’s true for 24% of couples where both spouses are aged 18 to 65, according to data from the 2010 American Community Survey.

But what’s commonplace remains challenging, as the researchers show. They find that marriage rates decline where a woman has the potential to out-earn her husband. Among adults aged 25 to 39, marriage rates have declined from about 81 percent in 1970 to 51 percent in 2010. Bertrand estimates that as much as 29 percent of that decline is linked to an aversion to a wife earning more than the husband.

And when a woman earns more, it increases her probability of unhappiness. Using data from 4,000 married couples, the researchers show that the percentage of people who report being “very happy” with their marriage declines when a woman earns more money than her husband.

While close to 50 percent of wives and husbands reported being very happily married, both spouses are 6 percentage points less likely to report a “very happy” marriage when the wife earns more. They’re 8 percentage points more likely to report marital troubles in the past year and 6 percentage points more likely to have discussed separating in the past year. It also appears to affect divorce rates, as they write that having a wife earn more than her husband “increases the likelihood of divorce by 50 percent.”

“When a woman does work outside of the home, she may end up working less in order to appear less threatening to her husband,” said Bertrand. “By opting for less demanding and lower paying jobs, or by working part time, women distort labour market outcomes. Moreover, women who do out-earn their husbands don’t get a break on house work. We find that women who make more end up doing more of the household chores, not less.”

Press contact: Marine Lapeyre at Noir sur Blanc
Tel. +33 (0)1 41 43 72 86 / E-mail:  mlapeyre@noirsurblanc.com

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About the University of Chicago Booth School of Business
The University of Chicago Booth School of Business is one of the leading business schools in the world, consistently ranking in the top ten and frequently in the top five.  The school’s faculty includes many renowned scholars and its graduates occupy key positions in the US and worldwide.  The Chicago Approach to Management Education is distinguished by how it leverages fundamental knowledge, its rigor, and its practical application to business challenges. The school offers full- and part-time MBA programmes, a PhD programme, open enrolment executive education and custom corporate education, with campuses in London, Chicago and Singapore. Current enrolment includes 1,162 full-time MBA students, 2,012 part-time MBA students of whom 190 are studying in London, and 123 PhD students.  Six current or former faculty members are Nobel Prize winners in economics. Among the school’s many successful alumni are James A. Rasulo, Senior Executive Vice President and CFO of The Walt Disney Company, Bart Becht, former CEO, Reckitt Benckiser plc, Brady Dougan, CEO, Credit Suisse and David Booth, chairman and co-chief executive of Dimensional Fund Advisors, for whom the school was renamed in 2008.  www.chicagobooth.edu
Posted by: Matthew Wood
Created on: Thu 24 January 2013 11:41
More Resources Spent on Corporate Learning and Development
According to “The Corporate Learning Factbook® 2013” released earlier this week, the continued investment in employee development is a sign that businesses are focused on reskilling their workforces.
As the pace of innovation continues to accelerate and companies look to expand their operations globally, employees should acquire more specialized skills, as well as adapt to a workplace that is becoming more transient, mobile and self-serving. These changes are challenging the traditional approaches to how learning is developed and delivered, as well as the assumptions about the role of the L&D team.
bersinMajor findings in the report include that in 2012, U.S. companies spent an average of $706 per learner.  Organizations with mature, effective L&D functions – often called “high-impact learning organizations” - spent $867 per learner, which is 34 % more than spending by companies at the lowest maturity level. High-impact learning organizations focus on improving performance through training as well as other talent initiatives. These L&D functions help to build the necessary human capabilities within their organizations to meet business goals and respond to change.
In many companies, still according to this report, the overall “footprint,” or ratio of training staff relative to the learner population, continued to decline. This trend is one signal of the changing role of the L&D function. No longer is the L&D function “the place” for learning; instead, the role of the L&D team is to facilitate and enable learning. L&D teams should build skills in performance consulting, gain expertise in new technologies including social and mobile and work to cultivate strong learning cultures within their organizations.
Social learning is furthermore identified as a catalyst for the transformation in L&D.  Spending on social learning  as well as using communities of practice have grown substantially over the past few years.  Moreover, the evolution to informal learning is expected to be of a similar magnitude as the switch to e-learning that began over a decade ago.
The 2013 Factbook also highlights that the purpose of measurement is not to justify the existence of L&D but rather to capture actionable information in order to improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and alignment of the entire L&D function. Efficiency and consumption metrics allow L&D leaders to pinpoint potential problem areas and make improvements. Other metrics such as adoption, utility, alignment, attainment, and performance are also critical to assess and improve the L&D function.
The Corporate Learning Factbook 2013 provides many more data, including trends in metrics over time and is available here.
Posted by: Matthew Wood
Created on: Wed 23 January 2013 11:00
CEO Views on Effectiveness of Leadership Pipeline Development
pwcDealing with Disruption, Adapting to Survive and Thrive was released last night at the World Economic Forum in Davos and is the 16th PWC CEO Survey. The survey covers the views of over 1300 CEOs in 68 countries. Volatile conditions top the list of business threats, however, concerns vary by where CEOs are located and include issues such as availability of key skills, increasing tax burden and shifting consumer behaviour. CEOs recognise that traditional risk management techniques are not enough.
The only way forward is to build organisations that are agile and adaptable. This PWC survey shows that CEOs are taking a three-pronged approach to make their organisations more resilient in this era of ‘stable instability’:
Targeting pockets of opportunity eg. focusing on a few well-chosen initiatives with nearly half of the CEOs pinning their hopes on organic growth in existing markets. In parallel, clusters of economic growth are emerging in various parts of the world.
Concentrating on the customer eg. by looking for new ways to stimulate demand and foster customer loyalty. However, different consumption volumes and patterns in different markets add to the challenge whilst purchasing power and preferences of consumers vary a lot.  An obvious measure is to take advantage of the new emerging marketing platforms.  Interesting to note here too  is that “Strategies for Managing Talent” comes out as an area of major change in the company for achieving this key priority of attracting and keeping customers.Improving operational effectiveness eg. by balancing efficiency with agility.  However, to implement a cost-reduction initiative tops the list of restructuring activities the CEOs plan to put in place in 2013.
CEOs around the world are deploying a variety of methods to develop the organisations’ leadership pipeline, in terms of effectiveness, the top five looks as follows:pwcsurvey1
>Involving managers below board level in strategic decision making
>Active succession planning, including identifying multiple successors
>Dedicated executive development programme
>Rotations to different functions and challenges
>Encouraging global mobility and international experience
Moreover, CEOs see developing a skilled workforce as the top priority between business and government. In general CEOs also foresee that more stakeholders will have influence on their business strategy in the future and in order of importance highlight: customers and clients, industry competitors and peers, government and regulators, employees, supply chain partners, providers of capital, local communities, media and social media.
Also a range of non-financial priorities are getting the CEOs attention.  Again in order of importance – globally – these are:  support for a culture of ethical behaviour, workforce diversity and inclusion, reducing environmental footprint and non-financial reporting.
The full report is available here.
Posted by: Martine Plompen
Created on: Mon 21 January 2013 16:08
Call for Participation: 2013 Corporate Recruiters Survey
GMAC NEW logo BW 2009-12-10In association with EFMD and MBA Career Services Council, the Graduate Management Admission Council© (GMAC©) invites business schools worldwide to sign up to participate in the 2013 Corporate Recruiters Survey (CRS) — respond before 1 February to ensure your invitation!
Sign up today by going to: gmac.com/surveysignup-efmd
Since 2001, Corporate Recruiters Survey (CRS) data has provided a picture of the current employment landscape, gauged demand for master’s-level business graduates, and gained valuable insight into employer needs across industries and world regions.
Why the Survey Matters and how it can help youcorporaterecimage?
>Admissions/Marketing
>ENHANCE outreach efforts with data about the skills and salaries that demonstrate the value of management degrees in the job market
>Deans/Faculty
>ASSESS the effectiveness of your school’s curriculum compared to the knowledge, skills, abilities, and traits that today’s employers need in new graduate management hires
>Career Services
>GUIDE students in their job search and career decisions using robust employer hiring and salary projections
>GROW employer relationships with insight into what their overall recruitment strategies look like and what draws them to a campus
What You’ll Receive
Benchmark Reports — see how corporate recruiters place your graduates compared with graduates of other schools.
Comprehensive Data Reports —filter through survey data by industry, world region, and company size using interactive graphs and statistical tables.
What the 2012 CRS surevy told us by number with a Europe Focuscrsurvey
1,096 employers responded from more than 800 companies in 40 countries in last year’s survey
67% of European employers planned to hire MBAs
48% of European employers sought leadership skills in new hires with graduate management degrees
55% of European employers planned to hire Master in Management degree-holders
7 average number of campuses European recruiters planned to visit
Sign up to participate in the Corporate Recruiters Survey before 1 February 2013 at gmac.com/surveysignup-efmd. To learn more about the Corporate Recruiters Survey and the 2013 GMAC© Research Series, visit gmac.com/corporaterecruiters.
Posted by: Matthew Wood
Created on: Fri 18 January 2013 15:40
White Paper: MOOCs - Massive Open Online Courses
moocsMOOCs are on the Move: A Snapshot of the Rapid Growth of MOOCs
A White Paper by Dr Lindsay Ryan - January 2013
What are MOOCs
MOOCs are Massive Open Online Courses and they are rapidly changing the game for higher education, executive education and employee development generally. MOOCs offer free online courses covering a growing range of topics delivered by qualified lecturers from some of the most well-known universities in the world. In this age of lifelong learning, MOOCs are a means of providing learning and development to virtually everyone, anytime, anywhere in the world with internet access.
This paper presents a snapshot of current developments in MOOCs, noting that MOOCs have really only gathered momentum in the past year and are constantly developing and evolving almost on a weekly basis.
Background
The original concept for a MOOC came from academic research in the early 1960s with the idea that people could be linked by a series of computers to listen, discuss and learn about a particular topic. Now, continuous development in technology has become the enabler for virtually everybody in the world to have access to a broad and diverse range of education and learning topics.
MOOCs provide free online courses that enable people with an interest in a selected topic to study and learn through interaction with others also interested in the same topic. Other participants could be from the same organisation, city or region, learning together with people from other organisations, cities, regions and countries from around the world. MOOCs are the internet equivalent of distance education and there could be 1,000 or 100,000 participants in a single course.
MOOCs create the opportunity for vast numbers of people across the world to access learning through quality courses, content and lecturers that most would never have access to. For many people, further and higher education can seem overwhelming or beyond them. MOOCs open a world of opportunity for people in remote areas and developing countries as well as people with aspirations to achieve more with their lives. MOOCs are changing the traditional nature of education mainly being for the affluent and elite to being free and accessible to virtually everybody.
The growth of MOOCs is phenomenal. During the three months from mid-October to mid-January, including the quiet period for learning and development over Christmas-New Year, one major player, Coursera, continued to grow at the rate of 6,900 new participants (Courserians) PER DAY. Anything that grows at such a rate cannot be ignored and Coursera is just one of an increasing number of MOOC providers bringing together a diverse and expanding range of open online courses.
MOOCs started as a form of collaborative online learning with people interacting and learning from each other and being exposed to different perspectives, views and ideas. Over the past year, MOOCs have started to move to the mainstream and increasingly resembling more traditional courses, especially as a significant number of MOOCs are shorter versions of many traditional courses, and often delivered by highly qualified professors and academics whose research and academic expertise underpins the course on a MOOC.
Some of the MOOCs, such as EdX, continually research their courses to better understand how participants learn and explore ways of using the technology to transform and further enhance the learning and online experience for the participantsmoocs1.
Major MOOCs
Coursera (www.coursera.org), established by two Stanford University professors, is currently the biggest MOOC platform providing 212 different courses in such areas as: economics and business, computer sciences, biology, social sciences, music and film, medicine, health, food and nutrition, physical and earth sciences. Coursera has a consortium of 33 of the most well-known and highly regarded universities in the world delivering free online courses including Harvard, Stanford, Pennsylvania, Washington, London, Edinburgh, Toronto and Melbourne.
Udacity (www.udacity.com) has a focus on computer science courses and provides a range of topics from beginner courses to intermediate and advanced courses.
EdX (www.edx.org), owned by the prestigious academic institutions Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, draws content from a selection of their highly regarded courses.
Khan Academy (www.khanacademy.org) is a MOOC platform for young learners from kindergarten to Year 12 with courses centred on mathematics and science: biology, chemistry and physics, as well as some elements of economics and history.
FutureLearn (www.futurelearn.com) is the newest significant player reflecting how MOOCs are constantly changing. FutureLearn comprises a consortium of 12 major UK universities including The Open University, which has considerable experience in distance and online education, Birmingham, Warwick, Cardiff, Leeds, Bristol and St Andrews. Their web site is live but the courses and content are still being developed.
In addition, many high profile and elite universities are now offering their standard courses as open courses where people can watch the lectures online and access course slides and materials. To achieve the formal qualification people need to apply and enrol with the respective universities, pay the program fees and satisfactorily complete the assessment requirements associated with each course.
Participating in a MOOC
Participants complete a simple online registration for a course that interests them. They might want to learn more about a particular topic or it could be an introduction to consider a future study option or a possible formal university program or career direction. Each course on a MOOC is open for people over the age of 18 and, with parental approval, young learners over the age of 13. Coursera also asks participants to agree to an honour code that all the homework, quizzes and exams is their own work and that they won’t cheat or do anything that could dishonestly improve their results or dishonestly affect another person’s results.
When registering for a MOOC, participants are advised they are registering for a course and not enrolling with any of the universities delivering the courses. The courses are free and most materials and notes can be down-loaded from the course site. Occasionally other resources are recommended, such as additional books and reference materials for particular courses which can be purchased, but they are rarely prescribed as part of a course. A growing number of MOOCs offer a certificate signed by the lecturer once participants satisfactorily complete the course and there may be a fee for the certificate.
Until recently MOOCs have not provided participants with credit for further or higher education programs. However this is an area many universities are now considering, especially as one university in the US, Antioch University in Los Angeles, has started providing credit for selected MOOCs into specified college courses. Many overseas participants, especially in India, are seeking credit for their studies through MOOCs. While most MOOCs incorporate regular self-tests, projects and compulsory exams, universities are still exploring how participants can demonstrate mastery of a topic in order to be able to grant credit for the MOOC study. The American Council on Education is currently investigating a means of accrediting selected MOOCs for credit towards higher education courses.
moocs2How MOOCs Work
MOOCs allow a single teacher/lecturer to teach thousands and sometimes tens of thousands of participants in a single course delivery. With this size class, there is little participant contact with the lecturers, although some have scheduled times when they join online forums with participants to discuss various aspects of a course or provide further explanation on a topic.
MOOCs are often four to six weeks duration and the course format involves participants watching a series of short videos prepared by the lecturer detailing a particular topic theme for each of the specified weeks of the course. The format uses asynchronous learning so that participants can view the video at times that best suit them as well as their time zone. During each topic there are usually online tests that allow participants to respond and check their understanding of the concept or information presented.
In some courses participants are required to write an essay or more detailed response instead of an online multiple choice exam. In these cases, some MOOCs arrange for participants to forward their papers to five other participants for peer assessment and marking. This approach allows each participant to receive feedback and critique from five other participants. A lecturer may moderate an assessment where the spread of grades is diverse or a particular participant has a reputation for marking harshly.
The key to MOOC success is interaction among participants. Participants have interactive online tests during a course and then they will often post comments in online forums. Some MOOC lecturers try to organise face-to-face study groups in various physical locations or separate online forums for participants to promote learning and understanding through the sharing of ideas, perspectives and experiences with other participants.
MOOCs are based on Connectivism principles where learning and knowledge is created through connecting different people with a diversity of opinions. Technology is the enabler for MOOCs and with the growing use of smart phones and mobile computing, participants can maintain on-going connection with their MOOC class and interaction with other participants when they are at work, home, travelling and at any time of the day.
The Significance of MOOCs
MOOCs are accessible to virtually everybody who has access to the internet and the courses are free. This means there is no direct cost for a participant to explore a potential new area of interest or learning;
Learning occurs at times and locations that best suit the participant;
Participants interact with other people with a shared interest and are exposed to a diverse range of perspectives and ideas that can stimulate reflection and further interest in a topic;

Being part of a global class, participants can gain insight into attitudes, ideas, and trends among different populations and countries on a particular topic;
The continuing growth in the number of MOOCs will lead to significant choice and options for free online courses. This will allow learning and development to be tailored to the needs and/or interests of each participant;
MOOCs open a world of learning possibilities and promote lifelong learning for all those who are interested, able and motivated to participate;
Although some critics of MOOCs claim there is a low completion rate for courses, this has more positives than negatives. It means that people are interested in the concept of MOOCs and willing to investigate online learning, which most people would not have experienced previously. It also means that people have the opportunity to explore a topic without being committed to it and incurring significant costs as happens with many undergraduate programs.
Those people participating in a MOOC who do not complete a course are not precluding somebody else who wanted to participate but did not meet the selection criteria or cut-off levels.
Implications of MOOCs
Participants:
>The opportunity to learn something new or completely different from their normal discipline;
    >The opportunity to appraise higher education or a specific topic without the need to apply and enrol with an educational institution and incur course fees;
    >The opportunity to learn through interacting with other participants from diverse backgrounds, experiences and countries;
    >Everybody has an equal opportunity to interact online compared to on-campus lectures which some participants find intimidating speaking or asking questions in large groups;
    MOOCs could be used as an introduction to certain topics that lead to further study and possibly advanced standing in further education programs, subject to assessment of mastery at a prescribed level. This could reduce the duration and costs associated with completing a formal qualification.
Higher Education Providers:
    Some higher education providers may see MOOCs as a threat, particular those who regard lectures and course materials as their intellectual property and only accessible to fee paying students;
    Other higher education providers will see MOOCs as the opportunity to showcase some of their courses and use the MOOCs as a means of attracting new participants to undertake studies;
    Need to develop a system for assessing student mastery of certain MOOCs and provide credit or advanced standing for participants applying for higher education programs. Participants completing a number of MOOCs and able to demonstrate mastery of the topic also demonstrate commitment to study and are likely to complete formal qualifications;
    Should promote the environment and resources of their university, student experience and value of the qualification for participants who progress from a MOOC to enrolling in a formal university program.
Industry:
    Employers could utilise MOOCs as part of the learning and development of employees. Those employees that show real interest, commitment and motivation for certain areas of studying could then be supported by their employer to enrol in further studies in areas relating to their employment and career development;
    Some organisations and industries could use a series of MOOCs, selecting the most appropriate courses from a number of MOOC aggregators, as a pre-qualification for people applying to work in a particular industry, in addition to or instead of a university degree.
Employee Development Potential
MOOCs provide employers with the opportunity to develop an integrated organisation development plan and tailor a learning and development plan for each employee. Such a plan might comprise:
    >One or a series of MOOCs on topics relevant to each employee’s development needs;
    >Work-based projects that enable employees to learn and immediately apply their learning, which promotes greater understanding of concepts and better retention of the learning;
    >A mentor for each employee to discuss their work-based projects, workplace issues and career development options;
    >TED videos (Ideas Worth Spreading) to stimulate ideas, thinking and discussion within an organisation and/or workgroup;
    >YouTube-Education videos with specific topics and speakers used for employees to watch and then discuss or lead discussions with work colleagues.
The above integrated approach to employee learning and skills development could apply to all employees, from frontline, through supervisor and middle management, up to senior managers and executives.
Final Comment
MOOCs have been described in some circles as the biggest development in education for 200 years. It would appear that MOOCs are a win-win for participants, higher education providers and industry.
However, the unanswered question is: if MOOCs are free how do they pay for themselves? At this stage the universities involved in launching MOOCs seem to be following the approach adopted by one of the most successful companies of the digital age: Google. As identified by Jeff Jarvis, Google banks users, not money. When Google rolls-out a new product they worry about whether they will have users. If they have users, the money will follow (Jarvis, Jeff, (2009) What Would Google Do?, HarperCollins, New York).
About the Author
Dr Lindsay Ryan is Director of Corporate Education Advisers.
Lindsay is a thought leader, adviser and mentor to organisations assisting with organisational development and employee learning that enables organisations to develop their capability and capacity. Utilising leading-edge research, Lindsay assists organisations adopt a strategic approach to their corporate education to ensure employee training and development aligns with their goals and strategic direction. Based in Adelaide, Australia, Lindsay’s work is highly regarded internationally and he is also Visiting Fellow in Corporate Education with Birmingham City Business School in the United Kingdom.
CONTACT DETAILS:
(61) 0418 809 170
Lindsay@corpedadvisers.com.au
Posted by: Matthew Wood
Created on: Fri 18 January 2013 10:53
Integrated Reasoning and Admissions
GMAC NEW logo BW 2009-12-10Preliminary data from the Integrated Reasoning section of the GMAT exam show that the skills it measures are distinct from the Verbal and Quantitative skills measured in other parts of the test. According to Graduate Management Newsletter, the IR section is testing skills such as the ability to synthesize information from multiple sources and formats, evaluate output and identify possible solutions, consider alternative decisions, and predict outcomes,” according to Michelle Sparacino, associate director of the GMAT Program, in a recent GMAC webinar.
Moreover, nearly all (97%) of the employers surveyed in the GMAC/EFMD Corporate Recruiters Survey said the skills—such as the ability to integrate, organize, combine, and synthesize information—were important. GMAC also interviewed alumni of business schools about those skills, and overwhelmingly they said they spent all or most of their work time using such skills.
A panel of admissions experts from business schools – at a recent GMAC webinar also confirm: “We are going to be able to make better decisions because we have that additional set of data that is so relevant to what students are going to do in the MBA curriculum, but also in their careers.”  "Integrated Reasoning gives business schools another avenue to look at candidates and a greater sense of what the candidate's abilities are going to be like in the classroom,” said Oliver Ashby, senior manager of recruitment and admissions at London Business School.
To date, more than 100,000 test takers have taken the Integrated Reasoning section, launched in June 2012.  The average score has inched up since the launch to 4.33 on a scale of 1 to 8 and has stabilized at about the 45th percentile, slightly below the median, or 50th percentile.
Full details are at Demystifying the GMAT: What We Know About IR 6 Months After Launch.
Posted by: Martine Plompen
Created on: Thu 17 January 2013 11:26
Perceptions of Entrepreneurship and the Role of Education
Entrepreneurs are job creators and entrepreneurs create new products and services that benefit all of us.  A large majority of EU respondents agree, respectively 87% and 79%. The European Commission’s Directorate-General "Enterprise and Industry" has been studying the development of entrepreneurship for over a decade and in the 2012 survey over 42,000 respondents from different social and demographic groups were interviewed, covering 37 different countries. Moreover, the EU respondents have a broadly favourable view of professionals and entrepreneurs, but a mixed view when it comes to top managers.
Just under a quarter (23%) of EU respondents in this same survey say that they have taken part in a course or activity about entrepreneurship; whilst 76% have not done so.  However, country results range  from the 39% of people in Finland who have done so to the 15% in both Malta and the UK.
Half of EU respondents (50%) agree that their school education helped them to develop a sense of initiative and a sort of entrepreneurial attitude. More than 40% also agree that their school education helped them to better understand the role of entrepreneurs in society (47%); and that their school education gave them the skills and know-how to enable them to run a business (41%). But only 28% agree that their school education made them interested in becoming an entrepreneur.  All details are in the Eurobarometer on entrepreneurship.

You can also share your own experiences and knowledge and attend the 2013 EFMD Entrepreneurship Conference.  The overall theme of the conference is: “Empowering Entrepreneurs for Growth’.  Currently, over 40 papers from practitioners, policy advisors and academics are  being finalised on the themes of : Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation; Alternative Models for Growth and  Strategy for Education and Training in Entrepreneurship. Some of the papers are case studies and reflections from first-hand experience whilst others focus on research findings and evidence of factors creating entrepreneurial value.  There is also a track on new ways of looking at entrepreneurial activities and support of entrepreneurs.
Posted by: Martine Plompen
Created on: Tue 15 January 2013 11:19
Register Now for the EFMD / EURAM Research Leadership Programme
researchleadershipEFMD and EURAM are pleased to announce that registration is now open for Cycle 4 of the Research Leadership Programme, especially designed for newly appointed directors of research.  After three successful editions and over 50 participants, EFMD and EURAM are again partnering in 2013 for this unique programme that enables a group of up to 20 international directors of research to discuss in a friendly, open environment the many issues to which they are mutually confronted.
It is important for business schools to contribute to the creation of knowledge. However, each institution is faced with challenges to develop an appropriate research strategy and to implement that strategy. In order to strengthen their members’ capability to develop high-quality research, EFMD and EURAM have joined efforts to offer this professional development programme. The programme aims to prepare individuals in European business and management schools to step into significant research management roles through exposure to a wide range of strategic and operational concerns.
Particular emphasis will be placed on preparing individuals for the role of Research Director and in building a community of research leaders in European business and management schools.
A great networking opportunity to collaborate internationally, the RLP is composed of three modules all taking place at the EFMD premises in Brussels, Belgium:
euram
    >8-9 April
    >28-29 May
    >18-20 September
Each module has a specific theme to allow participants to gain a unique overview of the many facets of research strategy including research identity, differing contexts and environmental influences. The operational part of the programme looks amongst others into faculty development, performance measurement, appropriate research structures, and much more. The programme is facilitated by Keld Laursen, Professor of Economics and Management of Innovation at Copenhagen Business School.
Register before 1st March 2013 and benefit from the early bird fee. If you know of someone who would be interested in participating in this programme, please feel free to forward this email.
If you have any questions or require any further information, please contact either: Robin Hartley robin.hartley@efmd.org or Luisa Jaffé luisa.jaffe@eiasm.be
Posted by: Matthew Wood
Created on: Mon 14 January 2013 12:34
EAIR 35th Annual Forum Rotterdam 2013 - Call for Proposals “The Impact of Higher Education”
eairThe EAIR Forum 2013 Rotterdam Programme Committee is delighted to invite you to submit your Paper Proposal for the 35th EAIR Forum “The Impact of Higher Education”. The EAIR Forum will take place from Wednesday 28 August till Saturday 31 August 2013 at the Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
The deadline of the submission for your Paper Proposal is Monday 4 February 2013.

For submitting your proposal, please go to: http://www.eair.nl/forum/rotterdam/proposals/

In 2013 the Erasmus University Rotterdam celebrates its centennial. Exactly 100 years ago a group of entrepreneurs founded the Netherlands School of Commerce, the predecessor of the current Erasmus University.
As part of the festivities, the Erasmus University Rotterdam is more than happy to host the 35th annual Forum meeting of the EAIR. This year’s theme is The Impact of Higher Education with the subtitle Addressing the Callenges of the 21st Century.
The Erasmus University is centrally located near the river in one of the most vibrant cities of the Netherlands. Being the main port of Europe, Rotterdam is a multicultural experience with
outstanding museums and restaurants and well known for its modern architecture. The Erasmus University itself has a world wide reputation in the areas of economics, business administration and health, strengthened by law, social sciences, history and arts, and philosophy. Students from all over the world follow Dutch and English language bachelor’s programmes as the basis for leading international master’s specialisations at the interface of economics, health and society.
For more information about Rotterdam, the Erasmus University and the 35th annual EAIR Forum, please also visit www.eur.nl/EAIR. We hope to welcome you this year at the Erasmus University Rotterdam.