Vedomosti (Moscow), January 28, 2008

WINDOW TO RUSSIA, Tatiana Martyanova, Maria Shpigel

 

New program HEC-Paris and Higher School of Management of the SPbGU

Russian economy growing stronger and growing interest of foreign managers in work in BRIG countries pushed Russian business schools towards creation of joint programs with Western schools. Having obtained foreign lecturers and students Russian schools hope to increase their level and status.

The Higher School of Management of the SPbGU reached an agreement on creation of a joint Executive MBA program with French HEC-Paris being one of the best business schools of Europe (the 18th place in the ranking FT 2008). Dean of the Higher School of Management of SPbGU the Valery Katkalo reports that lessons will begin in October of 2008. The program is intended for 20 months and will be organized on the basis of modules about a half of which takes place in St. Petersburg, a significant part takes place in Paris, one module will take place in the US and China each. Students will be taught in the English language by professors of both schools, as well as other leading business schools of the world and Russia. According to results of the education students will receive two certificates: that of HEC-Paris and that of the Higher School of Management of the SPbGU. Jean-Marc de Lersneder, Academic Director of ЕМВА programs of HEC-Paris, explains this circumstance by the equal contribution of the business schools to the program.

HEC-Paris already has joint program TRIUM Global Executive MBA Program with LSE and Stem (New York University). In the ranking of EMBA programs of 2007 of FT it took the second place and cost 116,900 euros. Costs of the Russian program are being discussed yet. Katkalo presumes that they will be higher than the costs of the programs existing on the Russian market now.

It is planned to enroll 30-35 people to the first group and one-fourth of them may be foreigners.

With assistance of this project the Dean of the Higher School of Management hopes to create a strong brand on the international market and an advertising campaign in the leading international media is planned for spring for this purpose. Katkalo comments, "Russia is one of the BRIC countries, HEC-Paris is one of the leading schools of Europe and together these two components may provide interesting opportunities for creation of a new offer on the international market of EMBA programs."

LONG PREPARATION

Before signing of the agreement at the end of 2007, the business schools have cooperated in the field of research for more than four years and have exchanged lecturers and students (according to Katkalo, ten students of HEC-Paris passed courses in the Higher School of Management of the SPbGU and vice versa in 2007).

De Lersneder explains that HEC-Paris is interested in entrance into new markets and the Higher School of Management looks to it as a suitable partner in Russia. It is oriented at international relations, has international departments and plans to reach the international level.

In 2006, the Higher School of Management was the only representative of Russia accepted as a member to the Community of European Management Schools (CEMS). Since 1999, the management department of the SPbGU (the Higher School of Management was established on its basis in 2007 in the framework of national project "Education") participates in the ECTS.

Between September and January, Giorgio Ronka, student of SDA Bocconi School of Management from Milan, passed several courses in SPbGU. He said, "Russia is a very dynamically developing market. It was interesting for me to look at the country. I passed exams in January. I liked everything and it was a little easier to study there than in Milan because quantity of individual practical classes was smaller."

Overall, more than 100 students from the 26 leading schools of Europe passed semester courses in St. Petersburg. Katkalo says, "Today we have created the potential that is recognizable and lets us speak the same language with such schools as HEC-Paris."

A BAIT OF BRIC

According to Della Bradshaw, editor of the "Business education" section of The Financial Times, HEC-Paris is a sufficiently experienced business school in the field of joint programs and popularity of joint EMBA programs is growing, that is why its alliance with a Russian school may be interesting for students.

In the top ten of the ranking of the best EMBA programs of the world of FT about a half are joint programs modules of which take place in one of the BRIC countries. Zoya Zaitseva, manager for Eastern Europe of QS World MBA, presumes that this fact shows that mono-programs have been experiencing a certain pressure on the part of the global challenge lately. At any rate, Zaitseva considers the expectations of the Higher School of Management regarding foreigners (25-30% of students) to be excessive. She explains that, on the one hand, Russia has an optimal combination of salaries, taxes and career prospects and, on the other hand, apprehensions regarding instability in the country still remain.

According to a research of Hill and Knowlton, among the regions where graduates of MBA schools would like to work Russia is on the last place but one below Eastern Europe and Middle East.

According to FT, among the EMBA programs already existing in Russia, the best is the Russian program of the Stockholm School of Economics (the 55th place in the rating of ЕМВА FT 2007). It costs 24,900 euros, students are taught in the English language and almost a half (eight of 15) of educational modules take place in St. Petersburg. Anna Izmailova, Marketing and Foreign Relations Manager of the School, says that there are foreign students in each group and interest of new students in the program is stable. According to Izmailova, there is a big probability that the program of HEC-Paris - Higher School of Management of the SPbGU will enjoy success because demand for EMBA has already been formed in Russia and it is growing steadily.

Overall, according to Begin Group, one-fifth of students of the business school in Moscow or approximately 500 people study under ЕМВА program. In 2003, there were only three such programs in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Now there are already 12 of them. Their costs grew to $7,000-33,000.

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About the company

Higher School of Management of the SPbGU

It was established in 2007 in the framework of national project "education" on the basis of the management department of the SPbGU (opened in 1993) in partnership with the Haas Business School of the Californian University in Berkley. Its master and bachelor programs passed international accrediting. It does not have a full-time MBA program.

* In 2007, the school signed an agreement on creation of ЕМВА program in cooperation with HEC-Paris.

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About the company

HEC-Paris

Higher commercial school of Paris

It was established in 1881. It develops an entire spectrum of programs of business education from basic student ones to EMBA and PHD. In the FT ratings programs of the school have high places including a master program for management having the first place.

* In 2007, the company had the 18th place according to the full-time MBA programs in the global rating of FT.