THROUGHOUT this month, a number of Saudi students are studying in France at a business summer school in Grenoble, the city sometimes known as the “Capital of the Alps.” The course has been organized by the Grenoble Graduate School of Business (GGSB). Founded in 1984 and now one of the leading business schools in France, GGSB signed a partnership agreement on March 29 with the Jeddah-based College of Business Administration. It is the first agreement to be signed between a French business school and one in Saudi Arabia.
Going to France for the summer does not mean that Saudi students have to be French-speaking. Courses are in English, although French “survival” classes will also be part of the program — and cooking lessons too! But then we are talking about France. The students will also study intercultural management, doing business in Europe and examine European Union enlargement. An excursion to Paris and company visits have also been laid on. The students will be part of a group made of 12 different nationalities — from Yemen, Jordan, Pakistan, Syria, Lebanon, Switzerland, China, Mexico, India, the US and Canada. The aim of the program, according to Gael Fouillard, executive education manager at GGSB, is that it be highly interactive. It is also geared to students unused to finding themselves in the same classroom as so many others from different cultures. “Our study tours are an ideal way for students to develop their international business education, experience a different culture, learn more about their own and gain an understanding of how business is done in Europe,” he said.
The summer batch is not the first group of Saudi students to go to Grenoble. With a representative office in Beirut, GGSB has seen an increasing number of applicants from the region; it has three Saudis currently studying for a master’s degree.
The summer school is, however, just the start of something much bigger. From September 2009, GGSB’s master’s degree in international business and its doctorate in business administration will be offered at the CBA campus. Conducted entirely in English, the programs will be taught by GGSB faculty staff who will fly to Jeddah. GGSB sees common bonds between itself and its new Jeddah partner. “The CBA is similar to GGSB in its vision and mission by aiming to meet the needs of corporate recruiters as closely as possible,” says Judith Bouvard, GGSB’s dean.
The first contacts between CBA and GGSB were the result of an initiative at the beginning of 2008 by Mohanad Dahlan, MBA program director and son of CBA’s founder. This resulted in a visit to Grenoble by a CBA delegation led by the dean, Dr. Osama Jannadi, at the beginning of February this year. The visit allowed both sides to identify areas of potential cooperation.
Discussions, supported by the cultural section of the French Consulate General in Jeddah, quickly resulted in agreement on a number of areas (course descriptions, organization of programs, provisional budgets and the like). GGSB’s existing international partnerships and exchanges with a number of business colleges worldwide (in London, Moscow, Singapore, Beijing and Malta among others), its rapid response to the Saudi approach, and the enthusiastic support of GGSB’s Beirut representative convinced CBA that a partnership should be signed and sealed as soon as possible. As of October 2009, the full scope of cooperation between the two institutions will comprise, in addition to the courses listed above: Teacher exchange and training of academic staff, joint research projects and technical aid. There will also be a number of joint non-diploma programs, as well as seminars and colloquiums in Grenoble and elsewhere in Europe.