Posts Tagged ‘Student Office#8217;

Deciding where to do an MBA can be a difficult choice, no more so than if you have a partner who is going to be relocating with you. Here at IE Business School we are trying to help you with this situation by offering possibilities to include partners into school activities.

The IE Partner’s Club in particular is geared towards ensuring that family members or partners get the most out of the IE experience and are able to develop a solid circle of friends and a network that often lasts a lifetime. Check out the video below to get an idea of what the IE Partner´s Club is about.

Deciding where to do your MBA can be a difficult choice, no more so than if you have a partner who is going to be relocating with you. Forté Foundation recently wrote a blog post on the subject , where a recent MBA graduate revealed her tips for making the decision easier.

IE Business School is proud of the effort to makes to include wives and partners into our activities. One of the roles of the IE Student Office to coordinate and support the Student Clubs, which are open to families as well. The Partner’s Club in particular is geared towards ensuring that family members or partners get the most out of the IE Experience. The IE Partner’s Club works to make the transition easier for those accompanying IE students. The idea is that your partner can develop a solid circle of friends and a network that often lasts a lifetime.

Partners can also join the intensive Spanish classes (paying a small fee) and kick off their journey in Madrid just like the students! They will receive an ID card to access all of the different on campus facilities (including the library and computer lab) and the discounts in the different organizations and events that IE has gathered for its students.

In May, IE’s Net Impact and Corporate Responsibility club hosted the annual Global Village event, celebrating the vast and varied cultures and nationalities represented on IE’s campus.

In recognition of this seventh edition of Global Village, María Quesada, Director of the Student Office, was interviewed in Europa Press where she described this year’s event as “was one of the best ever.”

Please click here to read the whole article in full (in Spanish) or click on the link below to watch the video from last year’s event.

Cultural diversity is a key feature of studying at IE Business School. With around 85 different nationalities studying on campus, how could it not?!

Video of Global Village 2010

One of the ways we like to celebrate our diversity is through Global Village. Organized by the NetImpact club, Global Village is a one-day event hosted on our campus in Madrid where students prepare food and activities from their respective countries to share with the rest of the IE community. The atmosphere is fun and relaxed and students are welcome to bring their partners and children along to enjoy the event as well.  Check out the action unfolding through our Alumni twitter!

You may also click here for a video of last year’s Global Village.

Richard Barnard current student of the International MBA program – Class of 2010 describes his experience during the MBAT Sports Weekend.

 This past weekend close to a hundred IE Business School students from across the English, Spanish, November, April IMBA intakes and the other Master programmes flew to Paris to take part in the annual MBA Tournament (“MBAT”). MBAT is hosted by HEC Business School on its campus close to Versailles west of Paris.

MBAT brings together business schools from across Europe including the UK, Spain, France, Italy, Switzerland, Holland, among others. For 3 days each year these business schools compete in a broad spectrum of sports, winning individual event trophies and aiming ultimately for the MBAT Cup, awarded to the overall champion.

Coinciding with the end of Core Period 2 and a few days holiday from the IMBA programme the mood was relaxed. IE students competed in several activities and the teams performed superbly. Special congratulations must go to the IE Football Team who once again proved they are the best in Europe in 2011, beating LBS in the final to be crowned MBAT champions.

Gold medals were also won by the IE Golf Team and for Women’s cross-country. Silver medals were won by the Women’s Football Team, Men’s Rugby Team, and Bronze by the Swimming team and Golf Team 2. Personally, I represented IE at Cricket and Tug-of-War; whilst not participating in a champion team at either of these two sports, the sporting camaraderie made the weekend extremely enjoyable.

 The diversity of the IE student body shone through and the MBAT weekend provided a fantastic opportunity for all students from all the various programmes to meet, mix and have fun. The weather helped; three days of glorious Parisian sunshine ensured that good times were had by all participants on and off the sports fields.

We also made time to visit the centre of Paris and see the sights. The cricket team decided to do this on the first day, taking the approach of “bringing cricket to Paris” and playing at each of the major landmarks across the heart of the city, culminating in a game of cricket beneath the Eiffel Tower.

On a final note, although there was not a prize for it, I believe that by popular consent IE also won the disco dance floor challenge … at least I won something!

During the International MBA program students have the opportunity to participate in several real consulting projects. The IE Consulting Project (IECP) is offered during the elective period and this April marked the conclusion of the April 2010 class’s IECP where 16 International MBA students presented their final projects to senior management at Unilever.

This year four teams of four students each worked on projects closely aligned with Unilever’s core activities such as Corporate Social Responsibility, Strategic Planning and Process Improvement. In order to complete these projects teams met with senior management but also visited Unilever facilities in Europe.

Duncan McIver, Works Director of Unilever’s Aranjuez facility concluded: “Once again I am extremely impressed with the caliber, professionalism and enthusiasm of the students and the work they have produced. Some projects were more strategic and others more operational, but in all cases the conclusions and recommendations have been practical, and applicable immediately to our business.”

To learn more about the International MBA program and our teaching methodology please click here:

IE Consulting Club in association with Accenture and Cemex are hosting the “IE Management Consulting Forum 2011″. The forum will be held this afternoon at 4pm and Saturday 9th of April. The event will include presentations, case workshops and discussion panels involving senior business leaders sharing their opinions on different topics in businss.

For more information about the IE Consulting Day click here.

Richard Barnard current student of the International MBA program – Class of 2010 argues that the International MBA program provides opportunities apart from just working and studying:

Although our daily schedules are packed with classes, meetings and work, the majority of the International MBA students do find some time to relax and enjoy life. The phrase “work hard, play hard” is an appropriate maxim.

The IE Business School intramural football (soccer) league is well underway, with players from across IE playing midweek and at weekends. The quality players can aim for the IE representative team, which recently won the “Tackle Africa Cup” tournament hosted by London Business School and attended by Business Schools from across Europe.

IE’s Clubs ensure a constant stream of events, seminars, parties and workshops for the students to enjoy. The incredible diversity of the IMBA student intake results in fascinating events that provide a window on to the varied cultures of the world.

Weekend breaks are very popular, to provide respite from the studying and enable us to appreciate the country and continent we are in for a year. Recent groups have gone skiing in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, to the historic city of Salamanca, last weekend a large group headed to Valencia, on Spain’s Mediterranean coast, for the fiesta of Las Fallas, which celebrates Saint Joseph with a riotous combination of street carnival, music, fireworks and bonfires. Personally, I flew to Rome last weekend, thanks to the budget airlines that are based in Madrid, and watched the 6 Nations tournament rugby international between Italy and France, which Italy won by 1 point! The celebrations were epic!

Finding time to relax and enjoy yourself is crucial within the IMBA programme as the workload can appear daunting and thus the need to freshen yourself with something new is vital. On the horizon we have the Spring Games hosted by IESE Business School in Barcelona at the end of March and then the annual MBA Tournament in Paris in May. Events to look forward to and work towards.

Last weekend IE ‘s Football Club became Champions when travelled to London to compete in a football tournament hosted by London Business School. Today we interviewed IE FC’s coach and International MBA 2009 graduate, Luis Arreaza.

Hi Luis, thank you for accepting doing this interview. Could you please introduce yourself?

Hi, my name is Luis F. Arreaza, Alumn from the 2009 International MBA class and coach for the current IE Football Club Men’s team. At the moment, I’m working at Horwath International, a financial consulting firm in Madrid.

Tell us more about this MBA Tournament and why IE Business School participated?

This tournament was organized by London Business School with the idea of contributing to eradicate poverty in Africa. The tournament “Tackle Africa Cup” promoted greater emphasis on investment in the African Continent.

IE Football Club participated because we are committed to causes that promote the greater good, beyond the scope of profitable business. For this reason we were keen on supporting LBS in their efforts. In 2009, LBS also supported our tournament, “GreenLaces Cup”,  aimed at raising environmental awareness. Additionally, it was a great opportunity to network and meet new people from different countries and different business schools.

What do you need to do to join IE Football Club?

IE Football Club is more than just a place where everyone comes in and plays the game. Our idea is to have dedicated individuals inside and outside the field, who represent values such as integrity, respect, honesty, dedication, determination, fraternity, and sportsmanship.

To be involved, players need to come to practice, show commitment to our cause, and help the club with extracurricular events such as fundraisers, tournaments, and charities.

Since IE Football Club is one of the most popular clubs within the IE community, it’s important to honor IE when representing all our students at international tournaments, which is another reason why we choose players that embody the values mentioned above.

How many people were selected to play the tournament and what do you look for when you make the selection?

I chose 18 players initially, based on their commitment, skills, and availability to travel.

Given that the International MBA program is quite intense, how do people manage to coordinate classes and football?

This is an interesting question because it’s one of the main reasons behind players leaving the team. IE FC staff has made sure to plan ahead our practices and training sessions so we expect students can also plan their activities.

I have told my players that this is a situation where they have to show off their management skills, and prioritize their goals. In my opinion, this experience with IE Football Club will have a huge impact during their professional lives because players will know the true identity of their characters, and realize that when they set a goal for themselves, it can materialize with hard work and determination.

A good example of this philosophy is our Championship win this past March 6^th at London Business School´s Tackle Africa Cup. We brought a group together with our willingness and dedication to succeed, everyone put their best effort forward and took the trophy home.

What is the next goal of IE Football Club?

We intend to keep training hard and recruiting students that represent IE values that we want to spread. Through this, we are confident to win upcoming tournaments such as IESE´s Spring Games and HEC´s MBA Tournament; along with other ambitious tournaments such as UCLA´s MBA World Cup.

Lance Widner, International MBA Class of 2010 graduate and former President and Team Captain of IE Rugby Club, shares his experience of winning the 2010 Rugby Iberian Cup.

On November 20, 2010, both the men’s tackle and men’s/women’s mixed touch rugby teams went to Barcelona for the 2010 Rugby Iberian Cup…and took home both trophies!  The other two schools that participated in the tournament were IESE and ESADE.  Approximately 15 men made up the tackle team, and 5 women and various members of the men’s team comprised the mixed touch team this season for the 7’s (7 people per side) competition. 

After losing to both teams in Barcelona this past April at the Spring Fling sports tournament, our single focus was on growing a legitimate team, training early and hard, and showing the other two schools we were ready for a rematch.  We launched an official club with elections, developed a formal training regiment, and received financial support from the student office to purchase jerseys.  And a rematch it was.  After a heavy rain soaked the rugby pitch, the clouds parted, the sun came out, and it became a mud-soaked battle.  IE’s Jeff Carroll dislocated his shoulder, and Juan Pablo Casado broke his thumb.  IESE’s captain broke a finger so badly it needed surgery, in addition to the many cuts and bruises sustained that day. 

The mixed team was equally competitive, and more importantly, proved that a school like IE can support both a men’s and women’s team.  After all, rugby isn’t just for the guys anymore!  In fact, in many ways the mixed team was more fun because it was more integrated, and it was fun to all be in Barcelona together.

Though I have graduated, I’m still in close touch with the team, captained by the new president Mike LaMothe.  They’re already beginning to train, discussing corporate sponsorship and looking forward to a rematch this April at both Spring Fling and MBAT. I believe with enough momentum and growth of our reputation as a school that wins competitions, IE will not only be one of the great MBA programs of the world…it will also be one of the great rugby programs of the world!

Lance Widner, ’09-’10 President and Team Captain