The World is Flat: The Globalization of Israel's Higher Education

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The internationalization of the business curriculum in universities throughout the world has become an imperative for many. For some, it may be a way to differentiate their offerings in a market that has become highly competitive. For others, it may be the only way to survive. Internationalization of the business curriculum has taken a number of forms, from the exchange of faculty and students between institutions in more than one country (e.g. Erasmus; European Credit Transfer System) to joint ventures or strategic alliances that offer dual degrees (e.g. Wharton and INSEAD; NYU Stern with the London School of Economics and HEC School of Management, Paris; Kingston University Business School (UK) and the Academy of National Economy (Moscow)). In an era of globalization, there is no question about whether or not to internationalize business schools, but rather which strategy is best. This paper suggests an internationalization strategy for Israel's business schools. An international committee headed by Stuart Greenbaum, former Dean of the Olin Business School and six other business professors from the United States, the Netherlands and Israel found that many of the business schools in Israel offered programs of "low quality", lacked vision and had too many teaching positions manned by retired professors and adjuncts. The committee concluded that Israel's business administration programs should be among the top 30 in the world, and at least one in the top ten However, not one business school falls in either category today. That the situation needs immediate attention is reflected in the fact that the number of undergraduate students enrolled in business programs has increased from 574 in 1990 to 8,592 in 2005. We believe that internationalization of business schools in Israel is for many a survival strategy, as this paper demonstrates.

Stream: University Administration

Paper: A paper has not yet been submitted.

Eugene D. Jaffe has B.S. (Econ.) and PhD degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from New York University. He specializes in International Marketing and is author of National Image & Competitive Advantage: The Theory and Practice of Place Branding. He has published in academic journals such as the Journal of Marketing Research, European Journal of Marketing, International Marketing Review, International Business Review, Management International Review, Columbia Journal of World Business, Industrial Marketing Management, Public Opinion Quarterly and the Journal of Business Ethics, among others.

Ehud Menipaz holds B.Sc. (Eng.) and M.Sc. (Eng.)degreesfrom the Technion Israel Institute of Technology, and MBA and Ph.D degrees from the University of Cincinatti. He was a Senior Partner with Ernst & Young International and Founding Chairman of the Ira Center of Business at Ben Gurion University. He specializes in Strategy and Business Policy, International Technology Entreprenuership and Strategy,and Global and International Management Strategy. Among his books include Essentials of Production & Operations Management, Regional Countries in a Global Context and International Business: Theory and Practice (forthcoming). He has published in many academic journals including, among others International Journal of Production Research, European Journal of Operations Research, Journal of Optimization & Decision Sciences, IEEE Transactions on Reliability and the Journal of Mathematics and Computers in Simulation.