INSEAD :
"One MBA, two campuses"
Interview with NICK BARNIVILLE

INSEAD, with campuses in both France and Singapore, is one of the top international universities offering graduate business management programs.
Nick Barniville is responsible for the marketing of the INSEAD MBA program worldwide. His role is to ensure that the highest quality MBA candidates who are examining their options regarding top MBA programs worldwide consider INSEAD when making their choice.

WS: With about 6,000 Executive development program participants and just over 700 MBA participants, INSEAD’s focus seems to be heavily weighted towards the Executive program. Why is this?

NB: First of all, the executive program isn’t an executive MBA program; it’s a collection of executive development programs, which are available to participants who are sponsored by their companies. All applications to the executive courses must be supported by their employer, unless of course the individual is the CEO. So they’re shorter courses that are filled by participants who are sent to us by various companies. We also have a number of programs which are tailored to specific company clients, whereby a number of executives from one company will attend specially developed courses on campus, either in Singapore or Fontainebleau(Paris).

On the MBA side, we have over 700 MBA students on our two campuses here for one year. The 6,000 executive participants are here from three days to six weeks. So the number of MBAs on campus at any given time is greater than the number of executive development participants. But it would be accurate to say that the executive programs contribute more to the overall revenues than the MBA program. The MBA program, however, is what I would consider our flagship brand in the market. We’re not as focused on executive education over the MBA program like some other schools; we have quite a balance here, and in general professors will teach on both MBA and executive programs. The faculty has developed a link between the executive, MBA and PhD programs. They have contact with companies and research (via our PhD programs in Management), which enables the latest corporate and research trends to be passed on to the MBA students.

WS: You have recently expanded your international frontiers to include a fully-fledged campus with a permanent faculty in Singapore. How has this addition added to INSEAD’s mission of international education and multiculturalism?

NB: We’ve had a Euro-Asia center here at INSEAD since 1980, which has been basically the academic center in Europe for research into business in Asia. INSEAD wanted to use its regional areas of expertise in Europe as in Asia to be the first business school to really make an attempt to create a global knowledge network by creating nodes of expertise throughout the world. To expand this we decided to open a campus in Asia. After a lot of research we decided on Singapore. This has allowed us to have a second node of regional expertise. In addition to this we have a recently signed alliance with Wharton that covers faculty and knowledge exchange, executive development program development for global companies, and also an MBA exchange option. This has really allowed us to be the first school to have a significant foothold in basically all parts of the world where economies are strong. The opening of the Singapore campus is really the next step in creating this worldwide business and knowledge network.

WS: How successful has your campus exchange program been? Do you think it will play a significant role in INSEAD’s future?

NB: It’s been very successful so far, but it’s not for everybody. Because we have a one-year program, some people feel that it’s a little bit too short to exchange between campuses. So we give students the option of doing their full MBA in either Fontainebleau(Paris) or Singapore, or taking the option to switch between campuses. At the moment about a quarter of the students are taking the opportunity to switch between campuses. For those people who find it an attractive option it’s pretty unique in the sense that we’re running the same program across two campuses and people have the opportunity to study in two completely different environments. It’s proving very successful and popular among those who take it up; the people who have taken part in the exchange have come back extremely positive about the experience.

WS: How important is the English language in today’s business world? After English what is the most useful language to know for international business?

NB: I would say that there’s no question that English is essential to anybody who wants to operate internationally in business. For me personally, if I could wave a magic wand and say ‘Please make me fluent in another language’ I would say it would have to be Mandarin. Although the level of English among top business people around the world is efficient enough that business at a high level can be conducted in English internationally, it is a little different if you’re talking about doing business in certain parts of Asia, where the levels of English may not be as good as they are in European countries. It’s certainly very important in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Were it not for Mandarin I think my next choice would be Spanish, simply because of the extent of the geographical area in which Spanish is spoken throughout the world. And of course French is very important too.

WS: You launched an online program, "INSEAD Online", in September 2001. How comprehensive of a program is it?

NB: It’s predominately designed for executive development programs, rather than the MBA. It aims to work in partnership with companies to implement specific programs. There are currently programs offered in finance and accounting, strategy, managing multinationals and managing for value creation. The number of courses offered is going to increase by the end of the year. It’s not like an executive MBA program; it has really specific courses that aren’t usually offered to companies. One of the ideas of INSEAD is to create lifelong learning opportunities for students who come to us. It allows us to keep a learning link with people who have finished their MBA at INSEAD. We do offer some pre-INSEAD online courses for people who may be weaker in certain areas before they come into the MBA program; for example a mathematics and statistics course. We don’t however have any intention of getting rid of the campus-based experience of the full-time MBA and company executive programs because we see one of the major ‘value added’ aspects of our programs as the interaction of the participants. We think that the participants learn as much from each other as they do from the faculty.

WS: What role do you think E-Learning programs will play in the future of international education?

NB: I think it will always have a role to play, but I don’t think it will replace the campus-based experience exactly for the reasons I just mentioned. I think that people don’t really expect to learn everything from the book or from the Internet. They really expect to learn a lot from people as well, and that’s where our major strength is- in the way we select our participants.

WS: Do you have any advice for those who want to work in the field of International Management?

NB: Coming from a business school perspective, I would say to educate yourself the best you can, gain some work experience before going to a business school, and if you’re going to a business school, try to get in to the best business school you can.

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