SPAIN may be overshadowed by its European neighbours in world university rankings - but focus on business and suddenly its dominance becomes clear. Which country has more business schools in the European top 10 than any other, according to the Financial Times? Spain. Which country has the best online MBA program? Spain. Which country has two of the world's top 20 business schools, according to Forbes? Spain. And which country has the third, sixth and eighth best full-time MBA programs in the opinion of Businessweek? España, naturalmente!
Famously popular with tourists, Spain also welcomes some 56,000 international students a year. It was also the first country to welcome Erasmus students after spending more than 25 years developing the European Union-funded exchange programme. And getting into a Spanish university just got much easier this year after the government said international students would no longer have to pass its controversial nationwide entrance exam the Selectividad. Undergraduates from the European Union and China - which has academic links to Spain - were already exempt from the exam as long as they had passed their own country's university exams. But every year about 7,000 applicants from non-EU countries had to take the Selectividad which has now been scrapped with immediate effect.
IE Business School offers the best online MBA progam in the world, according to the Financial Times which has also placed it among the world's top 15 business schools for at least the past three years. It includes among its programs six MBA and Executive MBA prestigious plans and boasts a comprehensive and modern urban campus, located in the financial centre of Madrid.
IESE Business School (Universidad de Navarra) was founded in 1958 and offers two first-class campuses in Spain (one in the capital Madrid and the other in Barcelona, one of the world's top tourist cities). Focusing on the importance of the ethic dimension of business, its Executive MBA program started in 1982 and in the last 50 years it has gained a great international reputation.
Also created in 1958, ESADE Business School, part of the Ramón Llull University since 1995, offers three study plans: MBA, Executive Education programs and undergraduate management degrees. It is a member of the global network CEMS and its MBA studies are developed on the campus of Barcelona, where you can choose between three different options, depending on the length you want for your study plan.
A student´s view
Heron Mochny, an Indonesian student who has previously lived in the USA, decided to come to Spain after spotting the country's dominance in business school rankings.
He search for a customizable MBA course, with certificates in Finance, Strategy and Innovation, led him to Barcelona and ESADE Business School.
"ESADE had a great balance of business education and diversity," he said. "I had the fortune to meet a passionate admissions officer who introduced me to many alumni. What I found was a very candid view of the ESADE experience from very smart, passionate individuals who painted the school as a placeI could happily call home for 18 months".
Although some admission requirements were straight-forward, others were more complex and unexpected, says Heron.
"All my previous experience, professionally and personally, provided a fuller picture of who I was and my motivations. Another advantage that I was able to enjoy was the personal face-time that I had with the admissions team, which allowed me to convey other aspects of myself that do not necessarily translate in a paper application".
Heron described ESADE's MBA program as a "challenging and fantastic experience" and said he appreciated living in a country "on a path to economic recovery." He added: "Although the program is more focused on an international scale, there are definitely insights into the local scene that add to the ESADE experience. I have had exposure to myriad startups in all different industries, and heard about their challenges about doing business locally. I believe that Spain is on the cusp of a turnaround and seeing this happen on the ground is really interesting".
Article by Damian Guede.