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The Bologna Accord could turn out to be a boon for both civilization and peace. market their strengths to attract more students. The underlying theme to all these changes is improvement in education as a way to serve students and increase the overall quality of European universities. For business schools in particular, these changes facilitate an easy exchange among schools around the world, enhancing the global aspect of the b-school curriculum. Risks and Challenges Of course, the necessity for some con- formity among institutions has also forced other changes, and not everyone approves. To induce students to visit them, many schools have had to begin offer- ing classes in a new language, such as English. In other cases, schools that used to grant degrees based on input—such as the number of years students attended the school or the number of hours they sat in class—have had to shift to a focus on outcome, demonstrated by skills, knowledge, par- ticipation in internships, and so on. Still other schools have had to shorten their programs to satisfy student demand or align with more general practices. Some critics consider this inversion of academic logic to be a Copernican revolution and believe many of these chang- es to be detrimental to education. Meanwhile, a debate has sprung up on the dilution of local cultural values in the new supra-nation of Europe. Some rhetoric pits local against global, national against European, and region against state. Critics point to other risks as well. The primary one is that European business administration programs could become too homogenized, particularly at the master's level. Prior to the Bologna Accord, European management programs were designed according to three great trends: macro/micro eco- nomics theory, the rationalization of existing business practic- es, and imitation of the American MBA model. The fear was that the American MBA pattern would come to dominate as the Bologna Accord standardized business education. So far, that threat seems to have been avoided. British busi- ness schools, for instance, have been very innovative in diversi- fying their programs. Meanwhile, even in the U.S., programs are not identical, because there are as many different opinions about what makes a "real" MBA as there are programs them- selves. Thus, some differentiation is inevitable. The risk of homogenization is also lowered because vari- ous corporations want to recruit certain kinds of people. Busi- ness schools attempt to differentiate their programs in part so 36 BizEd MAY/JUNE 2007 they have a way to market their gradu- ates. In fact, the Bologna Accord has al- lowed lesser-known schools to enter the competition for students and faculty. The accelerated innovation in teaching meth- ods, course content, and infrastructure has allowed these schools to stand out from their rivals. The Consequences The Bologna Accord has brought Euro- pean schools to the situation economists call "sectorial performance improve- ment created by increasing market vis- ibility and economy." That is, the whole market segment has been uplifted by the common drive toward improvement. In countries where competition for students and faculty has been intense for decades, business schools have been quick to adopt the BMD degree system as a way to make themselves even more attractive. As they become interna- tionally known, these schools have started to perform well in the European rankings. France's business schools are so com- petitive, in fact, that seven of them placed within the top ten "Bologna Masters" listed by the Financial Times in 2006. This sort of systematic improvement mirrors what is hap- pening to European schools as they strive for recognition from AACSB International and other accrediting bodies. Schools working to meet accreditation standards improve their pro- grams and become more competitive—and they are also more likely to market themselves aggressively to potential students. This is good news for students, although institutions may have a difficult time ahead as the field becomes even more competitive. Yet, overall, European business schools can only become stronger as they pursue integration and ac- creditation. They will work together to create a new concept of "European management." As their programs continue to grow stronger, they will attract more students from around the world, formulate alliances with more peer schools, and participate in the globalization of management education. During the Renaissance, only a handful of students could acquire a multicultural education through travel, but today the Bologna Accord allows millions of students to do so. If such an experience means that these young men and women will no longer look at their neighbors as dangerous or igno- rant, the Bologna Accord could turn out to be a boon for both civilization and peace. n z Thierry Grange is dean of the Grenoble Ecole de Management in France.