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<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="displayarticletitle"><b><font
face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span
style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: bold;">School
profile: The American University in Beirut</span></font></b></span><b><span
style="font-weight: bold;"> <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="articlepublication"><b><font
face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span
style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: bold;">Financial
Times</span></font></b></span><b><span style="font-weight: bold;"> <span
class="articlereleasedate">12/04/2007</span> <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span
style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: bold;">Author: Ferry Biedermann<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span
style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span
style="font-size: 12pt;">The business education sector in the <st1:place
w:st="on">Middle East</st1:place>
is booming and new schools or branches of established foreign ones are
becoming
increasingly active. But the Arab world’s oldest business school at the
<st1:PlaceName w:st="on">American</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType>
in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Beirut</st1:place></st1:City>,
now
named the Suliman Olayan School of Business, is, despite its turbulent
home
base, determined to remain pre-eminent and rival even such august
international
institutions as Harvard, Wharton and Insead.<br>
<br>
“Business education is a global industry. There is no junior league any
more. You have to follow best practice and best standards otherwise you
have no
business to be part of the sector,” says George Najjar, the dean.<br>
<br>
To keep pace with the dean’s ambitions, the school is set to move into
what he says will be a state-of-the-art building in a new development
on the
lower campus, next to the sea. It will be adjacent to the university’s
new sports centre and is set to be completed by the middle of next year.<br>
<br>
Demand for business education is growing rapidly as globalisation
forces parts
of the commercial sector at least to keep up – or catch up – with
the rest of the world, even as the region’s governments stay mired in a
corrupt and bureaucratic past. Of course, the money from the oil glut
in the
Gulf needs its local fund managers and business leaders as well. Many
established US and European business schools have recognised the
potential and
are opening branches around the region, mainly in the Gulf. They see a
niche in
particular for Executive and Corporate MBA programmes to tap the huge
pool of
liquidity that local businesses have at their disposal.<br>
<br>
In addition, local universities in the Gulf are pouring money into
business
programmes. Institutions such as the <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">American</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType> of Sharjah in the <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United Arab Emirates</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
which was established just 10 years ago, benefit from their
benefactors’
very deep pockets.<br>
<br>
Faculty members at the Olayan business school acknowledge that their
institution cannot always rival the compensation packages or even the
research
money and support that some of the schools in the Gulf offer. But they
unanimously emphasise the attraction of working in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Beirut</st1:place></st1:City> and say that the co-operative
atmosphere among colleagues is especially conducive to research, which
the
school has made a priority.<br>
<br>
Prof Najjar speaks of research as part of what he sees as academia’s
knowledge creation mission. But he acknowledges the practical side of
it, which
is to help the school attract eminent lecturers who publish in
top-rated
journals, thus also burnishing the school’s image.<br>
<br>
Business education started at AUB in 1900 as part of the faculty of
arts and
sciences. In 2000 the university turned the programme into an
autonomous school
of business, which was named after Suliman S Olayan in 2003, following
a large
bequest.<br>
<br>
The school still falls fully under AUB’s umbrella, both academically
and
financially. Faculty members describe what they say are arduous rules
for
promotions. Income from the school’s various programmes flows back into
the university’s coffers, to the tune of more than $11m a year.<br>
<br>
The dean says that the one way in which the school can increase the
funds that
it can spend at its own discretion is by attracting donations and
endowments.
Over the past five years, this has brought in $11m which, among other
things,
has allowed the school to establish four endowed chairs. For
fundraising, the
school relies heavily on the AUB’s network of business alumni, many of
whom have gone on to work for big international companies outside the
region.<br>
<br>
One way for the school to work towards its goal of competing with
important
international institutions is by pursuing accreditation from the US
Association
to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, which it is hoping to attain
by June
2009. It will then, relatively rapidly, hope to acquire approval from
the
European Foundation for Management Development’s accrediting arm, Equis.<br>
<br>
The one circumstance that the Olayan school does not share with its
international counterparts, and not even with other institutions in the
region,
is <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Lebanon</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s
political instability and the accompanying security risk. This is
making it
both harder to attract faculty and students.<br>
<br>
The EMBA programme is a case in point. Launched first in 2003, it has
over the
years attracted more than 20 per cent of its students from elsewhere,
mainly
from the Gulf. This year, amid the continuing political crisis that
carries the
threat of violence, 87 per cent of the students are from <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Lebanon</st1:country-region> while the only other
nationality
represented is <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Kuwait</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
The figures mask the fact that some of the Lebanese who are
participating in
the programme have built their professional careers in the Gulf, part
of a
longstanding but accelerating brain drain. Both for the participants
from
abroad and for the ones in Lebanon who have busy jobs, the format of
the EMBA,
three days every three weeks, is very attractive because it allows them
to
continue their work, although they have dubbed the initial 10-day
orientation
period, “boot camp” . The price too, is a selling point, at less
than $50,000 its stands at one-third of that charged by other schools,
says Mr
Najjar. One way to sidestep <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Lebanon</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s
turmoil is to launch programmes abroad, which the school is doing for
the first
time starting next month. One way in which AUB has dealt with the
pressures of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Lebanon</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s
1975-1990 civil war has been to sell consulting services in the region.
But the
new corporate EMBA programme for the Gulf Investment Corporation in <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Kuwait</st1:place></st1:country-region>
will
represent the first time that the school has run a degree programme
outside the
campus.<br>
<br>
The faculty involved in the programme says Gulf companies have been
bypassing
the schools that have been set up in their countries and have opted for
the
Beirut-based school instead.<br>
<br>
Prof Najjar says several other corporate EMBA programmes are under
consideration. Apart from extending his school’s reach in the region,
he
says it will also help his goal of establishing the Olayan school as a
premier
research centre with a database of case studies on the Middle East and <st1:place
w:st="on">North Africa</st1:place> region.<br>
<br>
Some facts and figures the school provided:<br>
<br>
●The number of full-time faculty grew from 13 in 2000 to 49 in
2007-2008.
Staff come from all over the world but there is a heavy emphasis on
returning
Lebanese expatriates.<br>
<br>
●In 2007-2008, 1,300 students are enrolled at the school, most of them
Lebanese. GMAT scores for admission to the MBA programme are on average
598,
which the dean points out is higher that the aspirant peer average for
the
AACSB accreditation.<br>
<br>
The school requires a two-year minimum prior relevant experience for
admission
to the MBA programme. They say all their graduates find employment
within three
months and many end up at international companies such as HSBC, <b><span
style="font-weight: bold;">Morgan Stanley</span></b>, Citigroup, and
Pepsi.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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