Does “IMD” Stand for “I May Discriminate”?
Nadine Ellisson - 19.03.2006 12:08
Europe prides itself on its Business Schools. These are often privately-owned Higher Education Institutions catering to the “wealthy-parents kids” in search of a Master’s Degree or two, or corporate executives wishing to upgrade their skills. The Schools’ Human Resources Policies go largely unchecked—with many of them being private--which is why their bureaucrats have no qualms denying professors of non-EU origin, East Europeans in particular, teaching positions.
Let’s look at IMD, one of the better-known Business Schools. Its’ graduates are generally well-trained, and are working at the various corporations world-over. So much more surprising is the fact that the School pays little attention to its Academic Staff Diversity. To avoid unsubstantiated statements, let’s analyze the IMF Faculty names listed at the IMD website at  http://www01.imd.ch/faculty/index.cfm :
IMD Faculty:
Faculty Name West European/North American?
Billington, Corey Yes
Boscheck, Ralf Yes
Bottger, Preston C. Yes
Bris, Arturo Yes
Bryant, Ben Yes
Bьchel, Bettina Yes
Chakravarthy, Bala Yes (USA)
Collins, Robert S. Yes
Cordon, Carlos Yes
Cossin, Didier Yes
Denison, Dan Yes
Deschamps, Jean-Philippe Yes
DiStefano, Joseph J. Yes
Ellert, James Yes
Fischer, William A. Yes
Garelli, Stephane Yes
Gilbert, Xavier Yes
Hamilton, Stewart Yes
Haour, Georges Yes
Hooijberg, Robert Yes
Horovitz, Jacques Yes
Ichijo, Kazuo Japanese
Jeannet, Jean-Pierre Yes
Kashani, Kamran Yes (Iranian/Swiss)
Kassarjian, J. B. M. Yes
Killing, Peter Yes
Kohlrieser, George Yes
Kubes, Jan Yes
Lehmann, Jean-Pierre Yes
Leleux, Benoоt F. Yes
Lorange, Peter Yes
Malnight, Thomas Yes
Manzoni, Jean-Franзois Yes
Marchand, Donald A. Yes
Maznevski, Martha Yes (Canadian)
Meehan, Sean Yes
Morrison, Allen Yes
Nie, Winter Yes
Peiperl, Maury Yes
Pucik, Vladimir Yes (US/Czech)
Read, Stuart Yes
Robertson, David Yes
Rosenzweig, Philip Yes
Ryans, Adrian Yes
Schwass, Joachim Yes
Seifert, Ralf W. Yes
Sjoblom, Leif Yes
Steger, Ulrich Yes
Stider, Annelie Yes
Strebel, Paul Yes
Turpin, Dominique Yes
Vollmann, Thomas E. Yes
Walsh, John Yes
Ward, John Yes
Wood, Jack D. Yes
Xin, Katherine Information Unavailable
Yaziji, Michael Yes (US)
As is evidenced by the IMD Faculty List, about 90% of the IMD Academic Faculty is of West-European origin. So, in essence, the IMD students are paying top bucks to listen to the same, West-European take on the global issues—again and again. Ok, granted: some of the IMD professors are US- or Canada-educated. But what about the rest of this diverse and colorful world with all its nations? Does it deserve to be taught about? Doesn’t a difference in perspectives make for a vibrant, exciting and thought-provoking experience known as “the University learning”? For the European Business Schools’ bureaucrats the answer is obviously “No”: for years on end have East European PhD and Master Degree holders been trying to get teaching jobs at those Schools, submitting the exhaustingly-detailed Application Forms and doing all the necessary pirouettes required by the Education bureaucrats. All in vain, for the denial rate is close to 100%.
The situation is further complicated by the fact that EU and North American PhD and Master’s Degree holders have always been enjoying highly-preferential treatment when applying for work at the East European Universities. A fresh-out-of-school EU University graduate looking for a job somewhere in Russia would normally be warmly welcomed by a Russian university, say, of the City of Samara, Russia, and will normally get a decent teaching appointment and be overall fully supported in her/his activities by the University leaders.
This kind of good will is now wearing thin, since West European Institutions of Higher Learning not only don’t welcome East European academic job-seekers, but also openly block such job-seekers from working for them.
Such lop-sidedness creates awkward situations, when a Russia’s Samara University graduate, a Russian national, taught by, say, a Belgian national with a Belgium-issued PhD, is denied academic employment by that very same Belgian educational institution which educated her/his professor in the first place.
It’s hardly surprising then, that from year 2000 to the present, a number of East European Governments have been revising their policies of “unconditional green light” for the EU Academic Credentials-holders seeking employment on their territory. Transnistrian Moldavian Republic (TMR), for an example, has recently changed its stance towards foreign academic workers. From now on, holders of European Union- and North America-issued Educational Credentials will be treated differently: Prior to being even considered for a teaching position, an EU/North America-issued Degree holder will have to have her/his Academic Credentials examined and evaluated by the TMR Education Ministry Inspectors. Furthermore, no longer will the EU/ North America Official Academic Transcripts be accepted as the proof of Higher Education. In all cases, a teaching job applicant will be asked to produce the Original of the Academic Degree to prove to the Ministry specialists that she/he indeed has a Higher Education Credential high enough to hold the Professorship.
These and other issues pertaining to hiring foreign university professors were dealt with by the TMR Foreign Academic Credentials Review and Reform Initiative. The Initiative’s working name was “The IMD Response” …So let the Justice be served.
PS. Mr. Peter Lorange, IMD President and Norwegian national, has chosen not to reply to my letter in which I described the discriminatory academic staff policies of his School.
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