NHH in partnership with HEC Montréal

At the end of October, NHH signed a partnership agreement with the prestigious university HEC Montréal in Canada.

21.11.2013 - Sigrid Folkestad

The one-year programme Essentials of MBA is a brand new programme in NHH Executive's portfolio. The unique aspect of this programme is that it is based on a partnership. An initiative was taken almost two years ago for a collaboration between HEC Montréal and NHH Executive. Following a long process in which Vice Rector Gunnar Christensen was also involved, Dean William Brochs-Haukedal was finally able to sign the contract with HEC Montréal at the end of October.

A new step for NHH

This is the first time that NHH Executive has established a joint programme with another educational institution.

'We have been working for the establishment of a collaboration of this kind for many years. NHH has many partner agreements in connection with its ordinary study programmes, but NHH Executive's activities are commercial and the schools are concerned with protecting their market shares. The fact that we have now been accepted as a partner is a sign that we are succeeding with our internationalisation efforts, and can now team up with a big player,' says William Brochs-Haukedal, Dean of NHH Executive.

By 'a big player' the dean is referring to HEC Montréal's reputation and size andto its high standing in the Financial Times rankings. This summer, the university achieved yet another good ranking, when the The Economist published its first global EMBA ranking, in which HEC Montréal came in 29th place.

The Canadian university has more than 12,000 students, and every year around 7,000 managers take executive programmes at HEC Montréal, which was the first university in North America to be granted the accreditations AACSB International, AMBA and EQUIS.

Ann Langley, an honorary doctor at NHH, works in the Department of Management at HEC Montréal.

'We can benefit from each other's expertise, and, through us, HEC Montréal can gain access to our networks and to the Nordic market for continuing education. For us, there is also a certain prestige attached to collaboration on an executive programme. This can have a positive effect on NHH's ranking in competition with other business schools,' says Brochs-Haukedal.

Essentials of MBA

The programme Essentials of MBA will have a duration of one year and will be worth 30 credits. The programme uses lecturers from NHH and HEC Montréal. The teaching will take place in Norway, with a concluding part in Canada.

'We will target potential students in the Nordic countries, which is why this partnership proved tempting for HEC Montréal. We know the market and have a network. The target group consists of Norwegian and English-speaking engineers.

The programme is scheduled for start-up in autumn 2014. The programme has already been produced. Key elements include management, understanding accounts, strategy, conflict management, negotiations and motivation.

'Our target group consists of engineers who need to improve their management skills and commercial understanding. While a very high proportion of Norwegian managers are engineers, many of them have no relevant background or special expertise.'

Essentials of MBA will have maximum 35 students. The job of selling and recruiting candidates to the programme has now started. NHHE is initially contacting large companies with a view to recruiting whole classes from the same company.