Инженерный вестник: Manchester hopes to make waves in Miami

As Manchester business school expands globally, dean Michael Luger is optimistic about the future. Michael Luger knows what to expect when Manchester Business School becomes the first British school to open a campus in the US this month.

No British institution has dared to take on the might of the world’s oldest and most prestigious schools in their own backyard, though some have formed partnerships.

But Prof Luger, dean of MBS, is convinced there is an appetite among executives for a more international education, when US companies are increasingly operating globally.

“I speak from life experience. It was a tremendous opportunity to run a business school [in the UK]. US business schools are much more insular. Manchester is a global place educating business people in management in the 21st century.”

US schools have few overseas faculty and many draw case studies entirely from US business, he says, ignoring the fact that the most promising markets for most businesses are in Asia.

“There is a lot of lip service paid to the idea of internationalising, but they don’t do it. There is a xenophobic view of the world from most American universities.”

Prof Luger was headhunted from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2006 and admits he knew little about Manchester, a former centre of the Industrial Revolution and a city of almost 3m in the north of England, when approached.

But he has done his homework on Miami, where MBS’s campus will be. It is the first British institution accredited to teach business in the US.

Many companies have their headquarters in Miami, he adds, and the city also hosts a big financial centre, so there should be plenty of paying customers. “We are not setting up next to Stern [in New York]. There is no highly rated business school south of Atlanta. We will be the highest rated business school in that part of the world and that will attract students.”

Miami is also a hub for South America and the Caribbean, home to fast-growing emerging economies, he points out. “The fact is, we are a highly rated business school. Americans study here [MBS] for a full-time MBA. I think it makes sense to try to penetrate that [US] market.”

MBS, ranked 33rd in Europe in the Financial Times European Business Schools 2009 ranking, was the first school to establish overseas centres, opening in Hong Kong and Singapore almost 20 years ago. It now has eight centres between Rio and Shanghai.

Source: Financial Times
Photo: from the Financial Times website

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