Belying reports of declining interest in two-year, full-time MBA programs, IESE Business School has enrolled 356 students for its full time MBA program, an increase of 22% over the previous year.
IESE has seen an overall increase of 37% in the number of applications since 2013. With an acceptance rate hovering around 24%, IESE usually receives roughly 1800 applications.
Ranked 7 in FT Global MBA Rankings, IESE has four campuses in Barcelona, Madrid, New York and Munich and offices in São Paulo. The school also delivers diverse programs all over the world.
The school now has more students on its rolls than the 200 at HEC, Paris. However, it has some catching up to do with other European counterparts including INSEAD which has more than 1000 students, London Business School with 425 or closer home in Spain, the IE Business School with 411.
Meanwhile, the average GMAT score for the class has gone up to 690, a 10 point increase over the previous year. It translates to 10 points above IE school and one point more than HEC Paris.
Class Diversity
Participants belonging to 64 nationalities form the Class of 2018, as against students from 50 countries last year. In comparison, IE Business School has 62 nationalities and HEC Paris has representatives from 54 countries.
Apart from Spain, the countries with the most representatives are the US (36), Brazil (22) China (20) India (20) Japan (16) Mexico (15) and Peru (15). A significant 66% increase was recorded in the number of students from mainland China compared to the previous year.
According to an IESE spokesperson, the admissions team had put in special efforts at the schools international campuses and in other locations such as Singapore, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Shanghai to ramp up the enrolment.
Static Gender Balance
However, female representation in the class remained static at 28%, the same as in the previous year that saw a full 7% increase from 21% two years ago.
In comparison, HEC Paris has 30%, IE Business School 31% and London Business School 35% females. In the US, Harvard, Northwestern, Wharton, and Yale have above 40% girls in the class with Wharton at 44%. HBS, Kellogg and Yale are at the 43% mark.
Dean Jordi Canals Bows Out
Meanwhile, Dean Jordi Canals, said to be responsible for transforming IESE from a regional business school to one with an international focus and reputation, has stepped down.
His term saw, among others, the launch of the Executive MBA in Madrid (2005), in Barcelona (2008) and in Sao Paulo (2012); Global Executive MBA in New York (2014); expansion of IESE campuses in Spain: in Madrid (2004) and the new Barcelona Campus (2007); the New York Campus (2010), the development of ISE and the new Sao Paulo Campus (2011); the Munich Campus (2015).
During the period, IESE also launched associated schools in Latin America and Africa. International executive programs – open and custom recorded growth. New executive programs were introduced in China, Poland and Kenya. (Image Courtesy: IESE Business School)
