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headlines What's in a Word? BUSINESS SCHOOLS must take many factors into account when they launch new programs. As they become more international, one of those factors is becoming increasingly urgent: the language of course delivery. While many schools are opting to teach inter- national business programs in English in order to make them accessible to the greatest number of students, others are narrowing their focus to a particular region and choosing to offer programs in the language of that country. Fol- lowing are some recent examples: ■ Starting in the winter semester of the 2012–2013 school year, the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management will offer two bache- lor's degree programs taught entirely in English. The two programs are a six-semester course in business As schools become more international, the language of course delivery is a more urgent question. administration, which includes one semester abroad, and a seven-semester international business administration program, which includes two semesters abroad. Udo Steffens, president of the Frankfurt School, notes that a growing number of students—both native Ger- mans and foreign students studying at the school—want to study in English. While prospective students from India and South America want to study German manu- facturing and management, they don't have sufficient command of German to study in that language. Thus, English-language programs appeal to them, he says. ■ By contrast, some schools offering specialized programs, particularly executive education programs, are finding it more efficient to deliver programs in the native language of the students. INSEAD—which has locations in the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, and France—recently partnered with the New Economic School (NES) in Russia to deliver an executive educa- tion program entirely in Russian. The program has been designed to educate 500 managers a year at Sber- bank, Russia's largest bank. The new one-year blended learning program launched last August. 12 July/August 2012 BizEd Six Russian-speaking INSEAD professors will work with NES to deliver the program, which blends a resi- dential component with live discussions of case studies and group work. Sberbank executives located across Russia will be able to remotely access the Web-based platform developed by INSEAD and NES. The Web platform will centralize all content and information about the program, provide collaboration tools, and track participants' learning progress. ■ Similarly, last fall, the School of Business Adminis- tration at the University of Miami in Florida welcomed its first Spanish-language Global Executive MBA students. The Global EMBA, designed for senior business execu- tives working in or doing business with Latin America, drew participants from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Mex- ico, Peru, Puerto Rico, Spain, and Venezuela. The Global EMBA is taught at the main campus by the school's existing faculty, although an international study module takes place in Spain. The program is an expansion of the school's master of science in professional management/EMBA program, a Spanish-language EMBA launched 15 years ago.