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up 70 percent of the class at most highly ranked U.S. schools, while 20 percent are students with close ties to the U.S.; only 10 percent are genuine outsiders. Top-tier European business schools have much higher diversity rates, with some admitting fewer than 10 percent from their home countries, but even they often express a desire to globalize at a faster rate. In an effort to draw more international students to their programs, many universities have opened satellite campuses in other countries. But these remote locations often don't do much to globalize a school, because 80 percent of the students still will be drawn from the local population, while only about 20 percent will be truly foreign. A blended program, which allows individuals to participate from any- where in the world, is more certain to help a school attract a truly international student base. 5. A blended learn- ing program can help schools diversify the classroom. Most busi- ness schools don't want to simply ratchet up the percentage of students who come from other countries. They want to create a learning envi- ronment that reflects our business reality—which includes diverse work- forces that face the every- day challenges of business integration. A blended learning program has the unprecedented ability to bring together multicultural stu- dent groups who are expected to interact seamlessly, as they will be required to do in the workplace. Ayasse's EMBA team comprised individuals in six cul- tures working in time zones that ranged from Hong Kong to Montevideo; they had to work collaboratively to develop two to three products a week. "It was a massive logistical challenge, but one that's increasingly common in the mod- ern age of global business," he says. Student teams aren't the only ones who are dealing with those logistical challenges; professors have the task of over- seeing the efforts of so many far-flung students. IE's online campus, where professors coordinate forums and videocon- ferences with students, is open 24 hours a day. Professors arrange videoconferences for the times when most students 38 BizEd NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010 can join at a reasonable hour and record the conferences so that students who miss them can view them later. 6. A blended learning program offers many pos- sibilities for collaboration. Whether the collaborations are between universities and businesses, or among multiple universities, these partnerships leverage the strengths of dif- ferent organizations all over the world without requiring expensive investments in travel. In 2009, IE partnered with Brown University in Provi- dence, Rhode Island, to launch an EMBA that places humanities at the center of the curriculum. The 15-month program includes five intense face-to-face periods in Prov- idence and Madrid, coupled with periods of online learn- ing. Courses integrate business concepts with concepts from the social sciences, life sciences, and engi- neering, with the goal of developing leaders who have fresh perspectives on global business. 7. A blended learning program can help the business school grow. As I've already noted, it's difficult for young profes- sionals to take a year or more away from work to pursue a graduate busi- ness degree, and I think it's going to be even more difficult in the years ahead. At the same time, MBA programs are becoming more expensive, just as fewer employers are willing to pay for their managers to take these programs. These factors make it unlikely that traditional MBA pro- grams will continue to expand in the future. But blended learning programs—which allow participants to keep their jobs and schools to pull from a larger pool of candidates— will deliver growth to the business school. The IE Approach At IE, we are committed to blended learning. Our pro- grams feature students from more than 30 countries for a mix that is 94 percent international. Most of our students are mature, with an average age of 36. We keep our class- rooms small, capping them at 32 students, and we con- GREGOR SCHUSTER/CORBIS