Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/62198
Spotlight Connecting Continents Instituto de Empresa Madrid, Spain An independent, not-for-profit business school, Institute de Empresa (IE) is favorably situated in the financial district of Madrid, Spain's capital city. From this pivotal geographic location, IE provides an academic and cultural bridge between Europe and the Americas. In the 30 years since its inception, IE's campus at night The entrance to the main building IE has built a wide range of MBA program formats—some in Spanish and some in English—designed to serve an international community of professionals. "The need for interna- tionally oriented managers has led us to increase international content in all courses," says Gonzalo Garland, director of international relations. With this goal in mind, the school serves more than 2,000 students from more than 40 countries and boasts more than 28,000 alumni in businesses across five continents. In fact, more than 80 percent of its MBA students originate from outside Spain's borders. The school participates actively in student-professor exchanges and joint research programs with other institutions. Its IE Euro-Latin America Center, for example, links academics, business schools, and companies from Latin America and the European Union through train- ing, research, and consulting services on business management. A year ago, the school also founded the Sumaq Alliance, a network of seven Spanish and Portuguese business schools that offers traditional courses and e-learning opportunities to exec- 64 BizEd JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2003 Students taking a break on the balcony of IE's central building utives worldwide through its business unit, ielearning.net. Each school in the network contributes knowledge of its local markets, generating "syn- ergies" of experience and content that would be difficult for a single business school to deliver on its own, says Antonio Montes, director of the alliance. IE also places a special emphasis on entrepreneurship, points out Ignacio de la Vega, professor of entrepreneurship and strategic man- agement. The IE Entrepreneurship Center developed and founded the International Center for Entrepreneurship and Ventures Development (ICEVED), a virtual portal that links more than 25 business schools, bringing together entrepreneurs with potential investors. "Entrepreneurship plays a pivotal role in the creation of wealth and employment for any society," says de la Vega. "Every student at the Instituto takes at least 15 sessions on entrepreneurship and writes a The Campus II on Pinar Street Students working in one of IE's many small classrooms. business plan." As a result, he adds, 25 percent of IE alumni engage in entrepreneurial pursuits within five years of their graduation. Instituto de Empresa was accredit- ed by AACSB International—The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business in April 2002. It is also accredited by EQUIS and AMBA. ■ z