Business School Partnerships That Make The Perfect Match
Love it or hate it, Valentine’s Day is impossible to ignore. The cultural, religious and commercial celebration of love is everywhere, from supermarket heart-shaped chocolates to aggressively romantic marketing campaigns – see Skims x Lana Del Rey, and Krispy Kreme’s heart-shaped doughnuts, for some good examples, and UK tech retailer Curry’s for some, quite frankly, odd ones.
Even business schools aren’t single this year. Whist the recent FT Global MBA rankings remind us there will always be a good level of healthy competitions between the schools, you’ll find no toxic relationships here! These business schools have met their perfect match, a partner that complements them, supports them and encourages them to better their offerings to students.
If you’re staying away from love this year, close this tab immediately because we’re celebrating the best business school partnerships of 2024.
But if you’re looking to find your perfect match, read on…
Business school power couples
The only thing better than getting a master’s degree from one top business school? Getting a degree from two top business schools at the same time. Besides, everyone loves a power couple. Here is a selection of some of the best business school collabs out there at the moment:
ESSEC Business School & Mannheim Executive MBA
France’s ESSEC Business School has joined together with Germany’s Mannheim Business School to offer a unique Executive MBA.
During this 18-month, part-time programme, participants will complete five to six-day modules, every four to six weeks.
They will alternate between the ESSEC campus in Paris-La Défense and Mannheim in Germany, and go on study trips to the USA and Asia. Participants will become part of two high-calibre networks and benefit from lifelong learning resources. Not only this, but participants will walk away with a double degree from two of Europe’s most highly prestigious business schools.
MBA for Executives in Kinshasa, Kinshasa | Frankfurt
Germany’s Frankfurt School of Finance & Management has worked closely with the Université Protestante au Congo (UPC) in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, to create an MBA for executives in Kinshasa. Teaching methods are participant-oriented and feature best practice examples as well as up-to-date case studies. During a two-week stay in Frankfurt, students gain practical insight into German companies and their way of management, which enables them to bring back fresh ideas to their companies.
International Master in Luxury Management NEOMA – POLIMI Graduate School of Management
Two more European powerhouses join together in this 15-month-long master’s in Luxury Management double-degree. Combining French and Italian expertise, NEOMA Business School and POLIMI Graduate School of Management collaborate with key luxury firms to effectively cover value creation and management in the luxury sector, from product design to distribution. Through the programme’s interactive approach based on active learning with numerous case studies, business seminars and company visits, students acquire hands-on knowledge of the major aspects of luxury management.
Norway’s BI Norwegian Business School has partnered with China’s Fudan University School of Management to create a new BI-Fudan MBA programme. This is one of the longest-run MBA programmes in China with a foreign school. Combining Chinese and Nordic business knowledge, the programme is mostly taught in Shanghai, with participants travelling to Oslo for the final module and graduation. Graduates will receive a joint degree diploma from BI Norwegian Business School and School of Management, Fudan University
When it comes to business school partnerships, why stop at just two? FOME Alliance is a partnership between 12 business schools around the world, including big names like ESADE, EDHEC, Imperial College Business School, Vlerick Business School and the Rotterdam School of Management. There are many benefits of being part of this group: the partners learn and share innovative new pedagogical approaches in online learning and have successfully scouted and sourced new technologies together.
Company collaborations
When business schools partner with companies, they add a real-world, practical element to learning to their programmes that’s hard to replicate. This is why so many top business schools are doing just that. Here are a few of our favourites:
Nyenrode Business University’s partnership with Microsoft
Based in a picturesque castle campus in the Netherlands, Nyenrode Business University is continually expanding its impressive partnerships. Internationalisation is embedded into Nyenrode’s foundation and the business school has a valued network of partners across the globe, currently in more than 26 countries across six continents. Last year it announced that it was extending its collaboration with Microsoft, aimed at improving data-driven decision-making and further personalizing and optimizing the student experience. In addition, Nyenrode’s courses on digital transformation and ICT will be enriched with insights and guest speakers from Microsoft.
Sheffield Business School partners with local businesses
Over the past few years, the UK’s Sheffield Business School has increased its partnerships with a number of AACSB-accredited institutions in Australia, Croatia, France, the United States, and South Korea. Alongside this, it also has strong partnerships with businesses, connecting regional, national and international businesses with its talented students, graduates, academics and researchers. The school’s challenge-based approach to learning is beneficial for both its students and the companies, as students will work closely with businesses to solve real-world problems.
Hult International Business School partnership with Mindflick
Hult International Business School’s focus on learning by doing is also enhanced by its fantastic partnerships with different organisations. One of the most recent is a partnership with high-performance coaching and performance psychology organisation Mindflick. The collaboration allows Hult’s full-time MBA students access to Mindflick’s cutting-edge individual and team performance tool, which was honed for more than 25 years in the world of high-performance sports. The platform, powered by Hult’s unique psychometric profile tool – Spotlight, will help Hult MBAs build skills that focus on shifting mindsets and behaviour, understanding the importance of adaptability, how mental preferences play into their strengths and weaknesses, how stress can impact their behaviour, and the power of small changes to make a big impact.
ESMT Berlin’s partnership with Industry Immersion Africa (iiAfrica)
In collaboration with Industry Immersion Africa (iiAfrica), ESMT Berlin has partnered with Ghana1000 to encourage university graduates in STEM subjects to start in a career in data analytics. In a year-long work readiness program, 1000 graduates in Ghana will be equipped with important business, digital, and leadership skills. The content, provided by ESMT Berlin, includes core subjects of data analytics, organisational behaviour, entrepreneurship, and leadership.
The King’s EEA Executive ESG Programme for Hospitality Leaders
Kings College London has partnered with the Energy and Environment Alliance to offer this new Executive ESG programme. Designed by world-leading academics, researchers, global industry leaders and hospitality investors, the programme has been designed to equip the hospitality industry’s C-suite, boards, and non-executive and executive directors, with actionable insights and knowledge to drive change in a commercially sustainable and scientifically robust way.
NHH’s partnership with Telenor
Since 1992, Norwegian School of Economics (NHH) has partnered with multinational telecommunications company, Telenor. The partnership enables Telenor to cover a broad range of research areas, including artificial intelligence, 5G, economics, customer insights, as well as organisation and strategy. Through their close collaboration with Telenor, NHH’s students get access to real-life problems and data to solve it. In addition, thanks to its academic partners, Telenor can conduct high quality research that is peer-reviewed through internationally ranked journals.
University of Sussex Business School’s partnership with the Peter Bennett Foundation
The University of Sussex has received a major donation from the Peter Bennett Foundation, a philanthropy organisation, to establish the Bennett Institute for Innovation and Policy Acceleration. The institute will bring together academic research, and insights from corporate executives, entrepreneurs, scientists, engineers, and policymakers. While its primary focus will be on climate change, it will also, in time, tackle other issues, including health, security, immigration, and trade.
RSM’s partnership with the European Space Centre
To address the growing need for business education in the space industry, the Rotterdam School of Management Erasmus University (RSM) has partnered with Nova School of Business and Economics, St Gallen Business School and the European Space Agency to offer the Space for Business programme – with the first cohort set to graduate in October this year. The programme focuses on entrepreneurship, innovation management, strategic management and leadership development tailored to the specific needs of the space sector. It’s organised as a personal learning journey, and participants get to work on personal real-life impact projects in which they can apply their learnings to their own projects.
So, even for those bitter hearts swearing off relationships this year and planning to focus on putting themselves first, it seems there is still a lot to be gained from seeking out a partnership – if its not a romantic one!
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