What’s New at INSEAD? [Show Summary]

No school exemplifies the trend global business quite as much as INSEAD, which was founded in France, but has campuses in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East as well as partnerships with Wharton in the U.S., Tsinghua in China, and the Sorbonne. Virginie Fougea, Director of MBA Admissions at INSEAD will take you through the unique history of INSEAD, its mission and vision, and how you should approach the application.

Interview with Virginie Fougea, Director of MBA Recruitment and Admissions at INSEAD [Show Notes]

Today it’s my pleasure to have on the show Virginie Fougea Director of MBA Recruitment and Admissions at INSEAD. She began working at INSEAD shortly after I put Accepted on the web way back in 1996. She also participated in Accepted’s old text-only chats, typing madly away. In 2012 she became the Associate Director of Admissions at INSEAD, and on the day that I previously interviewed her for the podcast 3 years ago, she officially became Director of Admissions.

Can you give an overview of the INSEAD’s full-time MBA program for those listeners who aren’t that familiar with it? [2:24]

INSEAD was founded in 1957 by Georges Doriot, a French national and graduate and professor of Harvard. He came back to France after World War 2 and decided to promote peace and prosperity in Europe, with the idea being a common business school with different European countries working together. French, English and German were required languages at the time, though now it is just English. The institution does not belong to any government and is a private non-profit. The curriculum is designed to be taught in one year, and has been since the beginning. We now have 500 students per class, and two intakes per year, one in January and one in August. Students also choose between three campuses – the original in France, in Fontainebleau, which is 60km outside of Paris, Singapore, and Abu Dhabi.

You and I spoke a couple of weeks ago, and before we turn to admissions tips I’d like you to share with listeners some of the exciting recent developments at INSEAD. Let’s start with the €40 million gift from Andrea Hoffman Class of 90. Can you tell us how INSEAD will use the money? [4:38]

This is the single largest gift in INSEAD history and enabled us to launch the Global Institute for Business and Society, which we just launched this past week. It will be a transformative entity – working on theoretical frameworks, strategies, analytics tools, business models or new ways of teaching and disseminating knowledge. The goal is to align businesses with the societies they serve, and goes back to the vision to promote peace and prosperity. The hope is that future leaders from around the world involved in businesses will deliberately account for societal and environmental impact in their decisions as a result. The idea is that this will flow through all the entire INSEAD experience, from the coursework to green campuses.

Can you also tell us about IW50? The 50th Anniversary of INSEAD admitting the first woman to its program. [7:53]

We admitted the first two women to the MBA program 50 years ago, and were one of the first schools to do that. We wanted to recognize the leadership of women in the world, and through different events we wanted to influence the way men and women conceive of women as leaders. We brought people from everywhere in the world,