INSEAD Entrepreneurship Receives €10 Million Turbo Boost from Unnamed Alum

INSEAD has received a €10 million alumni gift to create several new academic positions and PhD scholarships to bolster entrepreneurship through strengthened research, expanded teaching and the cultivation of new talent.

“INSEAD changed my life for the better,” the anonymous donor said in a statement. “I want INSEAD to continue to excel in everything it does and to support it as an independent institution which needs donations from its alumni.” An entrepreneur himself, the donor called the decision of where to direct his investment a natural one. According to the school, the mystery alumni donor has long supported INSEAD—this latest gift bringing his total contributions to the school to more than €20 million.

INSEAD has been named the No. 1 MBA program in the world both this year and last by the Financial Times. With campuses in France, Singapore and Abu Dhabi, INSEAD offers its students the opportunity to study on three different continents and underscores this global education as one of its greatest strengths. 

Its accelerated MBA program—which students complete in a mere 10 months—also carries a much lower price tag than the two-year, full-time MBA programs more prevalent in the United States and requires less time out of the workforce.

For more information, please see the INSEAD press release

Financial Times 2017 Global MBA Rankings

INSEAD remained at #1 for 2017 but there were some major changes

1. Stanford GSB rose to 2nd

2. Harvard Business School fell to 4th

3. Cambridge Judge rose to 5th ahead of London Business School

Source: 2017 Financial Times Global MBA Ranking 

For the second consecutive year, the FT named INSEAD’s accelerated 10-month program the No. 1 MBA experience in the world. 

Stanford GSB replaced HBS to rank second, with Wharton in third place, and the University of Cambridge’s Judge Business School in fifth. Judge rose five places this year and 21 places in the past five years to gain its fifth-place finish, putting further distance between Judge and its top rival, Oxford’s Saïd Business School, which fell five places to a rank of 33rd, its lowest FT ranking since 2003 when it finished 35th. Only five years ago, Saïd was ranked 20th, ahead of Judge by six places.

This year the FT ranked London Business School, the only other non-U.S. MBA program to ever grace the top of its list, sixth. Columbia Business School, always a strong performed in this ranking, was seventh, with Spain’s IE Business School eighth, Chicago Booth ninth, and IESE Business School tenth.

A trio of schools in the top 25 each gained six places to finish substantially higher this year: IESE Business School in Spain rose to 10th from 16th, CEIBs in Shanghai, China, jumped to 11th from 17th, and ESADE in Spain improved to 17th from 23rd. Switzerland-based IMD lost the most ground, dropping eight places to a rank of 21st from 13th last year.

It was a tough year for U.S. business schools: Not only did INSEAD keep Stanford, Wharton and Harvard out of the top spot; only half of the top ten ranked institutions are based in the U.S., down from seven on each of the previous three annual lists. When the FT began ranking MBA programs, INSEAD finished 11th, and nine of the top ten schools were in the U.S., including first-place Harvard. This year, HBS lost two spots, sinking to fourth place.

The FT calculations on currency exchange which impact its salary data–a major factor in these rankings–were done in the fall before the more recent rise in the U.S. dollar which also hurt U.S. schools. Overall, the impact of the strengthening US dollar has yet to be felt in the FT ranking, with many European and Asian schools performing well in the top half of the table. Six of the top 11 schools are from Europe and Asia, with the other places held by the fabled M7.

Failing to win a top ten rank were a group of world class business schools that have long dominated the top of most rankings. They include: No. 11 Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, MIT Sloan and UC-Berkeley’s Haas School, both tied at 13th, No. 15 Yale School of Management, No. 18 Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business, and No. 19 NYU’s Stern School. Eight of the U.S. schools lost ground this year, while only four U.S. MBA programs improved their position.

Still, it was not all bad. U.S. schools occupy 51 of the 100 places on the list, up from 47 last year. Some 30 of the U.S. players were up, with 19 down and two maintaining their ranks from a year ago. Many American MBA programs did especially well. Indiana’s Kelley School rose eight places to finish 47th, Ohio State’s Fisher School jumped 12 spots to rank 63rd, Brigham Young University’s Marriott School advanced 15 places to finish 65th, Washington University’s Olin School gained 12 places to rank 68th.

A Day in the Life of an INSEAD MBA

Chenting Zou, an MBA Class of 17 student has written the following blog about a typical day in the INSEAD MBA program. 

As the end of P1 is nigh, I thought it’s about time I start recording my INSEAD experience. Overall, this first term has been chaotic, thrilling, perplexing, and a lot of fun. I suppose it was €14,700 well spent.

Inspired by a recent company presentation called, “Day in the life of [prestigious consulting firm] employee”, I had the urge to capture a snapshot of a recent (and typical) day in P1. Before I applied to INSEAD, I didn’t know much about what I would do on a day-to-day basis, so I hope this is useful for people who are thinking about coming here and those who have been admitted but aren’t yet quite sure what a daily MBA life entails.

[Please note that this is only my daily routine, which is certainly not representative of all INSEAD students.]

7:30am – Wake up and leave for campus within 20 mins. I chose to rent a studio that’s halfway between the train station and INSEAD, so it’s a zombie-like 30 minute walk every morning.

8:20am – Arrive on campus, rush to get a cup of free coffee at Freddy’s bar. Down one cup, and fill it up again for the lecture.

8:30am – First lecture of the day was Prices and Markets. After discussing microeconomic theory about pricing pharmaceutical drugs, the whole class plays a game theory exercise.

10:00am – Play a quick game of Foosball in Freddy’s. Get another coffee in the 15 minute break before the next lecture.

10:15am – Financial Markets Valuation class. My favourite 🙂

12:00pm – Skip the optional Uncertainty, Data, and Judgment tutorial for a presentation on Amazon job interviews.

1pm – Speedy lunch with section-mates. We chat about last night’s Robin Hood Valentine’s auction, and the various students and staff who were “sold” for charity.

2pm – Coffee chat with fellow 17D’s and a 17J about his pre-INSEAD consulting job.

3pm – Waste two hours walking to the bank in Fontainebleau centre and trying to explain for the third time that my bank card has still not arrived. Nothing :/

6pm – Work on a group assignment with my five group mates. We’re getting better at splitting the questions so this one took much less time than the previous assignments.

7.30pm – Enjoy the tapas, sangria and live music at Freddy’s as part of Iberian week.

10pm – Get home and catch up on emails.

Receive email reminder about the P2 Managerial Accounting exemption exam.  After spending the next hour reading through textbook chapter summaries, I come to the realisation that spending four hours trying to cram the content for an exam I had a low chance of passing wasn’t worth it. Decide to prepare on imminent summer internship job interview instead.

Receive email about the upcoming bidding process for campus exchange. Mild panic. Book appointment with career coach to figure out my employability in Asia.

12am – Skype a friend from London and we arrange a trip to Lisbon, along with other INSEAD-ers, between P1 and P2.

1am – Collapse in bed.

Chenting Zou, MBA’17D

Chenting was born in China but spent most of her life in the UK, with the exception of a two year stint in Singapore and Hong Kong. She has 4 years' experience in the healthcare sector and her latest job before INSEAD was at a mobile health app that delivers AI triage and online doctor consultations. In her spare time, she enjoys dabbling in salsa, painting and Louis Theroux documentaries.

For more information, please check out The INSEAD MBA Experience blog