Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/59979
Spotlight International Synergy HEC Montréal, Montréal, Quebec Canada The national flags that often deck the entrance to HECMontréal's facility are more than decorations—they are emblems of the school's international mission. Nearly a quarter of its 12,000 students—and more than 55 percent of students pursuing its bilingualMBA—come from outside Canada to study in one of the school's 33 management study programs. In addition to its French curriculum, HEC Montréal has given its BBA stu- dents the option of taking busi- ness courses in English or Spanish since 1996. All under- graduate and graduate students must achieve a required level of proficiency in English and French to receive their degrees. To further advance its internation- al focus, this year HECMontréal launched its new trilingual BBA pro- gram. Students who choose the optional stream must take five cours- es in French, five courses in English, and five courses in Spanish during the first three years of the program. In the fourth year, they will spend a semester abroad, where they will be immersed in the study of a language. To ensure students gain the greatest fluency possible in all three lan- guages, they are required to study in a country where they are least famil- iar with the language. The trilingual approach seemed perfect for the BBA program, rather than theMBA program, because the students are younger and have fewer 64 BizEd NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2005 Left: Flags displayed for special events at HEC Montréal. Below: HEC's cafeteria and finance room. Director Jean-Marie Toulouse work and family obligations, explains Jean-Marie Toulouse, the school's director. "The trilingual program is really a project for a 20-year-old, who is in the mode to learn new lan- guages and get international experi- ence. It's not for those who are 35 or 38," he says. The trilingual program has pre- sented the school with two central challenges. First, the school must find more bilingual and trilingual faculty. "We already had professors who were bilingual in French and English, as well as some with a good knowledge of Spanish," says Toulouse. "In our recruiting this year, we hired faculty for whom Spanish was a second or even first language." Second, the school must arrange study-abroad opportunities for the 109 students currently participating, says Toulouse. The school is actively seeking at least 50 new study-abroad opportunities to accommodate the students in the trilingual stream. With the trilingual BBA program, HECMontréal is continuing to develop its "international synergy," says Toulouse. "A 'unilingual' back- ground is simply not enough for today's business students," he adds. "Cultural differences run very deep. The best way students can under- stand those differences is to learn other languages." HECMontréal is accredited by AACSB International, the European Foundation forManagement Development, and the Association of MBAs.s z