Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/63421
The KPMG Foundation, which is the lead sponsor of the organization, providing approximately one-half of the financial support. Other financial support comes from corporations, foundations, academic organizations, and universities. With 416 minority doctoral stu- dents currently in the pipeline, the number of minority business school professors might easily triple from its starting number of 294 within the next four years. Even so, the ratio still works out to less than one mi- nority professor per school. This fall, annual conferences were What Do Recruiters Want? held by the five Doctoral Student As- sociations of The PhD Project—peer associations created for minority doc- toral students in each of five business disciplines. At these conferences, 51 new doctoral students were wel- comed and 35 who have earned their Ph.D.s over the past year were recog- nized. These conferences enable The PhD Project to form a support net- work for minority business students and connect them with key leaders in their field of study. Hundreds of ad- ditional applicants will be invited to a November conference held by The PhD Project. For more information on the conferences or the organiza- tion, visit www.phdproject.org. Accreditation Update Seven schools recently achieved first-time or ongoing accreditation from AACSB International. Receiving initial accreditation were King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia; Seoul National University in Korea; University College Dublin in Ireland; and Australian Graduate School of Management in Sydney, which became the first Australian business school to receive AACSB accreditation. Reaffirming AACSB accreditation were California State University in Bakersfield and Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas. Accreditation maintenance in accounting was awarded to Villanova University in Villanova, Pennsylvania. Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to work well with other team members are among the characteristics corpo- rate recruiters focus on most closely when interviewing business school graduates for jobs. That's one of the conclusions offered in The Wall Street Journal Guide to the Top Business Schools 2003, published this fall by The Wall Street Journal and based on information gathered by Harris Inter- active. While the survey of recruiters was used to help the periodical put together its annual ranking of busi- ness schools, it also yielded informa- tion about what recruiters generally value in recent graduates. The follow- ing chart shows what percentage of recruiters consider certain skills and characteristics to be important: Communication and interpersonal skills Ability to work well within a team Analytical and problem-solving skills Ability to drive results Quality of past hires Leadership potential Fit with the corporate culture Strategic thinking Student "chemistry" —overall like or dislike of the students Willingness to relocate Original and visionary thinking Overall value for the money invested in the recruiting effort General-management point of view Content of the core curriculum Retention of past hires Years of work experience School "chemistry" —overall like or dislike of a school Entrepreneurial skills Faculty expertise Career services offices at the school Past acceptance rate of job offers from students at this school Strong international perspective Awareness of corporate citizenship issues such as corporate and social responsibility BizEd NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2002 90% 87 86 81 80 74 73 65 Likelihood of recruiting "stars" —graduates who are likely to be promoted 65 49 47 46 39 35 35 35 32 32 26 26 24 24 21 15 9