At HEC Paris & Other European B-Schools, U.S. & Canadian Apps Are On The Rise

ESADE business school in Barcelona, Spain saw a 41% increase in U.S. students from 2019 to 2021.

Other B-schools in Europe are reporting more modest increases in North American student interest. IESE, in Barcelona, Spain, reports that its MBA Class of 2023 had nearly 12% applications from the U.S. and Canada, up from 11.3% in 2019 and 10.6% last year in the depth of the pandemic. London Business School reports a similar increase, up to 20% this fall from 18% in the previous two classes. “Application volume from North America has grown over the years and is strong and steady,” David Simpson, MBA admissions director at LBS, tells P&Q. “We are delighted with the interest and volume of applications we receive from North American candidates. Students from the region play a very active role on campus, including student club leadership roles and student ambassadors.”

But at one top European B-school, the increased interest from North America is far more pronounced. ESADE Business School, also based in Barcelona, reports that between 2019 and 2021 it saw a 41% increase in U.S. MBA students and a 92% increase in U.S. MSc in Management students.

“Our figures reflect a general trend in the increase of U.S. students who decide to study their MBA in Europe,” says Pollyanna Nethersole, ESADE’s director of international recruitment and admissions. “Looking at recent data from GMAC, the majority of U.S. GMAT takers who intend to pursue an MBA program still prefer to stay in the U.S., but Western Europe is their next most popular destination — the UK being their first choice followed by France and Spain.”

2 MAIN DRIVERS: TIME & DIVERSITY

When asked what prompted them to pursue their MBA in Western Europe, MBA applicants offered a variety of factors, Nethersole says. Time commitment and diversity are among the most often cited.

“From a practical (and financial) point of view, the majority of European programs offer 12-month options,” she says, “whereas in the U.S. it is more common to do a two-year program. This means less cost and less risk in terms of ‘time out’ and potentially a more rapid ROI.

“Secondly, top-ranked European programs do tend to be far more diverse in terms of cohort, to give a rough example whereas international students may account for around 30% of the cohort at American MBA schools at ESADE our diversity is much higher, to give this year as an example, we have 96% international students.”

ANOTHER KEY FACTOR: CHANGE

Given its highly international MBA cohort, Nethersole says that ESADE employs a careers expert to assist global recruiters looking for international talent. “Hence if your post MBA aspirations are to work abroad, it stands to reason that you will want to find a school with top recruiter contacts on a global scale,” she says.

Nethersole says other factors that prompt U.S. students to select European MBA schools include the desire for what she calls a “360-degree, 24/7 experience, that’s to say not only learn from top faculty with an international peer group but simultaneously experience life overseas, in a foreign culture.” While there, she adds, students have a chance to pick up a foreign language — in ESADE’s case, Spanish.

“Europe tends to attract U.S. students who are anxious to expand their horizons beyond North America, keen to explore alternative approaches and be challenged by different ways of thinking,” Nethersole says. “It’s characterized by a healthy curiosity and a genuine desire to go beyond their comfort zone and embrace new ways of thinking.”

Adds HEC Paris’ Andrea Masini:

“Coming to Europe means a greater depth of experience, and as a student, I know that I can get that more easily in a school where I have more than 60 nationalities in the classroom, where 95% of the participants are from a different country. And that is clearly the advantage, along with the duration being shorter and with fees being lower. I would say that a lot of our participants really like to consider HEC as the door to Europe, to a different part of the world that would be more difficult to access if they have stayed in the United States.”

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