Rome this Saturday

As hinted at in my last entry I’ll be off to Rome very soon to attend the MBA Fair on Saturday 13 March, organised by QS TopMBA. If you are in Rome that day and you are interested in taking on an MBA study then I’ll be delighted to speak to you.  You can read more about our MBA programmes by choosing the link in the Blogroll to your right.

Yesterday saw the official launch of the MBA consultancy project for the students on the full-time MBA programme. We have a number of exciting projects this year. Clients include Babcock’s Marine Division, Wood Mackenzie, Martin Currie, Wolfson Microelectronics and the Scottish Parliament. Between now and early June the students will work on this project alongside their classes and also their final project and solve problems for the companies and organisations in question. In June the teams will present their findings and recommendations to a panel from the clients and the School. At the same time the pace has increased for those on the MBA in International Business. Very soon they will be off to undertake their exchanges at Schulich School of Business, Fisher College of Business, EADA, ESSEC Business School, Shanghai International MBA and Nanyang Business School. This means coursework and exams while at the same time deciding how much and when to pack to go abroad and how to organise things if the internship takes them to other locations – this often happens. A busy time.

In between all this I spend a fair amount of time communication with the next intake and it is nice to see the new class take shape. It does of course also sometimes cause some time management issues when I have to communicate with the current and the new class, not to mention an abundance of nice alumni as well.  Well, it keeps me out of mischief.

Speaking of exchange partners: Bye and good luck! to Melanie Caugherty-Diaz who has provided much help and guidance to exchange students coming to and from Fisher College of Business.

Playing by the rules in the Euro Zone

Or not as the case may be!

The crisis in Greece has brought to light issues relating to the history behind the Euro Zone and especially that the rules so carefully outlined at the birth, a maximum debt of 60% of the GDP and a maximum deficit of 3%, have been flaunted repeatedly since day one. Well even before actually. Forelle and Fidler outline in  their piece about Europe’s Original Sin how the leader of Europe have ignored Greece’s soaring debt for years. Their piece also reveals that this might have to do with the fact that one should never be the one to throw the first stone when living in a house of glass. Although never as seriously in trouble as Greece, the rule rather than the exception has been that Euro Zone countries have not met their own target. And largely ignored this except in the very early stages when membership was to be secured. Read for yourself. It makes for interesting reading. In the meantime, the moves to save Greece continue amidst the prospect of strikes as a consequence of the Greek Government tightening the belt. Greece raised €5 billion in the planed bond sale but investors “gambling” on Greece being unable to pay their debts can never benefit the attempt to salvage the Greek economy. I shall refrain from entering the moral discussion of whether investment houses should be allowed to bring a country to its knees…  You may have a  view on that and I would be interested to see your comments pro/con.

So what about my MBA programme?  Well still going strong with the students having almost completed the second batch of courses. Amazing isn’t it?  It feels as if it was only yesterday that I announced the arrival of a new class. Students on the full-time programme have begun scratching the surface of their consultancy project, and some very interesting ones, while students on the MBA in International Business are thinking very careful about whether they need to pack all their textbooks for a three-month exchange in Singapore/China/France/Spain/USA/Canada.  The ability to multi-task is essential for any MBA students and even more so for the student on the MBA in International Business at the University of Edinburgh Business School.

Alongside supporting this year’s class the new class is slowly but surely emerging from the large number of applications. I interview students daily and am lucky enough to get to talk to a number of intelligent people from all over the world. It is obvious that the crisis is still affecting people’s decision so it’s good that we have been able to add more scholarships this year. I hope to get a chance to speak to more when attending the MBA Fair in Rome Saturday next week. See you then?