With the current economic upheaval making even clearer the links between global and national economies, the MIT Sloan School of Management is launching a collaboration with a select set of the world's top business schools to offer highly talented management students a chance to supplement their learning -- and to earn a degree at MIT.

"The world needs more, not fewer, smart people who are trained to be leaders in management, especially now," said David Schmittlein, the John C. Head III Dean of MIT Sloan. The new program, which creates a master of science in management studies at MIT, "will enable students to supplement the broad-based management education they receive in the outstanding MBA programs at the schools they already attend with the additional knowledge and management tools they can acquire at MIT." The degree program, Schmittlein added, is an important component of MIT Sloan's ongoing efforts to build broad-based relationships with leading management schools, including the four participating in the program.

The new MIT degree designation will begin in the 2009-2010 academic year, with approximately 15 international students and an eventual enrollment of 50.

MIT already offers several master of science specifications. The new addition builds upon MIT Sloan's deep and varied ties to leading educational institutions around the world. "We are pleased to partner with MIT Sloan in this new double-degree program, which will enhance the capacity of our institutions to be the leading international players in educating truly global business leaders," said Bernard Ramanantsoa, dean of HEC Paris, a leading European business school.

The new degree program, said MIT Sloan Senior Associate Dean Alan White, "supports our global collaborations, which are all about insuring our continued presence as a global university."

Robert C. Klemkosky, dean of the SKK Graduate School of Business at Korea's Sungkyunkwan University, termed the new program "one of the most significant events in the development of management education, not only at SKK GSB, but in Korea. It further strengthens the five-year collaboration between MIT Sloan and SKK GSB."

MIT Sloan Deputy Dean Steven D. Eppinger said MIT Sloan faculty and students will benefit as well. "With business more global than ever, we need to do all we can to encourage connections between our faculty and students and those of some of the best management schools in the world," he said. "This initiative will offer our partner schools the opportunity to provide their students, who have received their MBA education in one region of the world, with additional specialization in business education at MIT Sloan."

Participating institutions in the new degree program also include Tsinghua University in Beijing and Fudan University in Shanghai. Schmittlein noted an additional benefit for both Sloan and its academic partners. "This new degree program further strengthens our relationships with four of the most distinguished educational institutions in the world," he said. "It is a win-win for the partner schools, for MIT Sloan, and for all of our students and faculty."

A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on October 29, 2008 (download PDF).

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