News

Sumaq Deans Conference 2010

On March 1 and 2 the annual meeting of the Sumaq Alliance took place at the EGADE campus in Mexico City, bringing together leading business schools from Latin America and Spain to debate the challenges and future of the sector.

After member schools had shared experiences and ideas, the general director of the Sumaq Alliance, Antonio Montes, concluded that “there is evidence of a greater interest in programs aimed at senior management. There is also a growing interest and demand for executive education programs designed to meet the needs of specific companies, rather than open programs.”

During the meeting, the academics highlighted the increase in interest in programs focused on issues related to diversity management, sustainable development and corporate governance, the current economic scenario, and the environment.

Lastly, Montes also drew attention to the key role of programs in which professors from top-tier schools from different world regions take part, thereby enriching and broadening the knowledge acquired in local schools.

Finally, another of the main conclusions reached is that there is a growing trend among local business schools toward research and the development of own materials that are more relevant to the context of each country.

Participants in this year’s Sumaq meeting included Santiago Iñiguez, dean of IE Business School; Robert Grosse, director of Egade Business School and Alvaro de Garay, dean of Egade’s Santa Fé Campus; María Lorena Gutiérrez, dean of the administration faculty at Universidad de los Andes, Colombia, and president of the Sumaq Alliance; Ernesto Gore, dean of the administration department of Universidad de San Andrés, Argentina; Francisco Sanánez, president of IESA, Venezuela; Francisco Mazzucca, the director of FGV-EAESP, Brazil; and Roy Zúñiga, dean of Incae, Costa Rica.

Dean Roy Zúñiga from Incae Costa Rica -Marlene de Estrella director of External Relations acted on his behalf- and the representative of Pontificia Universidad Católica, Chile, were unfortunately unable to attend, the latter because of the recent earthquake.