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HEC Paris is a world renowned institution training the leaders of tomorrow. With 11 alumni who are currently chief executives in Fortune Global 500 companies, the institution is currently the only business school which made it to the top ten of this year's edition of Times Higher Education's Alma Mater Index: Global Executive. And with 93 nationalities on campus and 70 percent of professors being top thinkers from overseas, HEC Paris is one of the world's best international business schools. In a recent interview with Qatar Tribune's Malek Helali, the Dean of HEC Paris Peter Todd spoke about the premier institution's programmes, challenges, contributions and strategic plans of expansion. Excerpts:
Q) What are some of the challenges of being a dean of a large institution?
A) My main challenge today is to elevate HEC Paris to be among the very best business schools in the world. This can only be achieved by maintaining our strong selectivity for all programmes and thus by recruiting some of the world's best and most engaged talents.
HEC Paris has a proven successful academic record along with our learning environment, and a world-class faculty who are leading figures in their respective areas of research. While we currently count 108 full time faculty professors on campus, we are looking to expand to a medium term target of 125 tenure track faculty, and a 160-strong total faculty of experts.
One of my top priorities is to also develop the school's points of differentiation by reinforcing our expertise and competencies in entrepreneurship, social responsibility and digital transformation.
Q) What are your major contributions to the institution?
A) We are currently multiplying initiatives so that social impact becomes one of the core priorities for the leaders of today and tomorrow.
For instance, last November, we launched an ambitious initiative called the 'Movement for Social * Business Impact'. This movement aims to contribute to a more inclusive economy, where businesses seek to maximise their social impact together with their economic performance. While we were the first French business school to launch a MOOC on the Coursera platform in 2013, today, HEC Paris has developed 12 MOOCs and one specialisation, attracting thousands of participants from around 200 countries.
Last March, we launched a groundbreaking online Master's in Innovation and Entrepreneurship on Coursera, a leading online learning platform. The programme is designed for present and future business leaders who wish to drive innovation within their organisations or launch new ventures. Thanks to a unique curriculum based on stackable credentials, participants can benefit at each level of learning. They can choose a single course, decide to specialise in one programme, or embark on a full-fledged degree. I believe this degree represents remarkable progress in providing equitable access to education.
Nowadays, 25percent of students who graduate from HEC Paris programmes become entrepreneurs and launch their start-ups. Entrepreneurship, which has continuously grown in the past 10 years, has taken various forms: innovative teaching methods with emblematic programmes such as HEC entrepreneurs and Challenge+ research, support and coaching, awareness campaigns on campus, facilities such as the HEC Incubator.
On another note, we are proud to announce that HEC Paris' Incubator will soon be relocated to Station F in Paris, the world's largest start-up campus. The school's incubator will be next to companies such as Facebook, thus allowing tremendous opportunities for our incubees.
Q) Any strategic collaboration or joint programmes planned with the Qatar campus?
A) Yes, a new collaboration has just been put in place. HEC Paris has recently collaborated with the French company Alstom to provide executive education to selected participants across Alstom's operations in Europe, Middle East and Africa.
The ME3 mid-management programme was designed by HEC Paris in Qatar and Alstom. It was hosted at HEC Paris' French campus, thus allowing the participants access to our distinguished faculty and learning, with the aim of enhancing the leadership skills embedded in Alstom and motivating the participants to continue their career with the company.
Additionally,all graduates from our Qatar campus are given the opportunity to join our alumni network. It currently has more than 56,000 members, and provides opportunities for our graduates to network and share experiences.
Q) Are Qatar campus' academic outcomes on the same level as the main campus?
A) As one of the world's leading providers of executive education, we are focused on delivering business excellence across our network. The world class faculty from our Paris campus delivers the courses in Qatar to ensure the participants benefit from the same level of unmatched quality and uncompromised service as students at our main campus in France.
The executive MBA (EMBA) is a global programme with eight specialisations, with each specialisation hosted in a country that is renowned for that subject area.
Our Qatar campus hosts the energy major in which participants in the EMBA have the opportunity to learn from the expertise of the local oil and gas companies directly. The Specialized Master in Strategic Business Unit Management program (SBUM) is specifically customised to suit the needs of the local market.
Q) Any new plans for the Qatar campus in terms of capacity or faculty?
A) We take great pride in customising our programmes to meet market demands and our expansion plans will depend on the changing nature of those needs. In Qatar, there is current demand from the B2B sector, and such a demand is on the rise. We delivered a series of short courses for employees of the Qatar's Ministry of Transport and Communications, allowing those participants to benefit from an immersive and intensive learning experience. We have also partnered with entities such as Qatar Foundation and Ooredoo to tailor programmes based on their training requirements.
