Global MIT Sloan

Initiatives

Like MIT, MIT Sloan has a rich array of internationally focused initiatives aimed at giving people and organizations the knowledge to conduct business productively in every corner of the global marketplace. Examples of our primary initiatives in this arena are the MIT-China Management Education Project, Sungkyunkwan University Graduate School of Business (SKK GSB), the International Faculty Fellows Program.the Lisbon MBA, and the Skolkovo Project. In addition to these programs, the School is also engaged in educational and research initiatives over five continents.

In a speech that explored how universities can best meet the challenges of this global age, MIT President Susan Hockfield stressed the importance of global institutional collaborations. She cited MIT Sloan's MIT-China Management Project as exemplary, stating, “Rather than produce a ‘cookie-cutter’ replica of MIT Sloan, the MIT-China Management Education Project encourages Chinese management faculty to develop MIT Sloan's knowledge base responsively to local context and opportunity.”

As pioneers of global management education, MIT Sloan is committed to establishing business practices that strengthen local economies and, ultimately, help shape the future of global business.

For more information on MIT Sloan's international initiatives, please see below. (You may also browse initiatives by location.)

Our primary initiatives are:

The MIT-China Management Education Project
This project is a collaboration of MIT Sloan and three distinguished universities in China to strengthen graduate management education at the Chinese schools. Chinese faculty come to MIT Sloan for training in teaching and course development and to develop research projects. MIT Sloan faculty visit the Chinese campuses, and MBA students on all four campuses work together on team-based projects that include visits to MIT and China. English is the Chinese program’s official language.

MIT Sloan SKK GSB
MIT Sloan and the Sungkyunkwan University Graduate School of Business (SKK GSB) in Seoul are working together to develop a world-class MBA program at SKK GSB. SKK GSB faculty spend time at MIT Sloan developing research projects, MIT Sloan Faculty teach short courses at SKK GSB, and many SKK GSB MBA students spend a semester at MIT Sloan as Visiting Fellows. English is the program’s official language.

The Lisbon MBA
MIT Sloan has partnered with two premier business schools in Portugal to help those schools merge their MBA programs into an internationally competitive MBA program known as the Lisbon MBA. Students will receive degrees from both schools as well as a certificate from MIT. Portuguese faculty will come to MIT Sloan each year to develop MBA courses and conduct research, and Portuguese students will come for coursework. MIT Sloan is also giving both schools advice on designing, marketing, and operating their global MBA program.

The International Faculty Fellows Program
Every semester, faculty from Chinese, Korean, and Portuguese universities come to MIT Sloan to immerse themselves in the core subjects and electives they teach at their respective schools, and to develop research projects. They return home with advanced information and best practices that they can share with students and faculty. The philosophy of this program is that by teaching the teachers, knowledge spreads further.

The China Center for Financial Research
The CCFR is a collaboration of the MIT Sloan School and Tsinghua University in Beijing. The director is MIT Sloan Professor Jiang Wang. The CCFR supports and promotes research on China’s financial system, sponsors annual international conferences, and offers advanced training programs and workshops for Chinese faculty in finance.

Epoch Foundation
The Epoch Foundation is an organization of leading industrial companies in Taiwan that supports research, teaching, and program development in the Asia/Pacific region at MIT Sloan and across MIT. Members of Epoch companies participate in MIT Sloan Executive Education programs, attend seminars, meet with faculty and staff to discuss specific projects and ideas, and visit MIT-based startups that may offer opportunities for investment.

Executive Education Programs
MIT Sloan Executive Education offers a portfolio of open enrollment and custom designed programs to mid- to senior-level executives from around the world. The programs range from two days to one month. Most take place at MIT but some are held in offshore locations such as Mexico, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and Brazil.

Master of Science in Management Studies
This program offers qualified students and graduates of top business schools outside the U.S. the opportunity to supplement their learning at MIT Sloan by earning a MS degree at MIT in two semesters. Participants enroll in MIT Sloan elective classes, choose a concentration, and complete a Master’s thesis.

The Nanyang Fellows
Every summer, Nanyang Technological University (NTU) sends approximately 20 men and women with demonstrated leadership potential to MIT Sloan for four weeks of study. NTU Fellows come from ASEAN countries, including Cambodia, Malaysia, Myanmar, and Vietnam, as well as other countries such as Bangladesh, China, Namibia, Sri Lanka, and Taiwan. During this four-week learning experience, the Nanyang Fellows have the opportunity to learn with other participants in this MIT Sloan international management program.

The Skolkovo Project
Top business and government leaders in Russia are establishing Skolkovo – Moscow School of Management – a world-class business school that will be housed in a spacious new campus in Skolkovo on the outskirts of Moscow. MIT Sloan is working with Skolkovo in a pilot program focused on facilitating Skolkovo’s Executive MBA program, developing a research-oriented faculty, and designing a Global MBA program. MIT Sloan will also provide short courses at MIT for Skolkovo MBA students.

Other initiatives include:

Global Business School Network (GBSN)
The GBSN links teams of top business schools, including MIT Sloan, with their counterparts in the developing world. The initiative aims to enhance the institutional capacity of business schools in emerging markets so that they can provide a stronger pool of management talent to local, regional, and multinational firms and organizations. The end result is to help developing countries grow their economies and reduce poverty.

Global Dialogue Project
MIT Sloan faculty members Otto Scharmer, Tom Malone, and Peter Senge are collaborating with companies to interview leaders around the world. The object: getting to the bottom of leadership — what works and what doesn't. The project is cosponsored by McKinsey & Company and the Society for Organizational Learning.

Global Entrepreneurship Lab (G-Lab)
G-Lab is the flagship international internship course offered at MIT Sloan. The course links teams of MIT Sloan MBA students with entrepreneurs in emerging markets such as Ghana, India, Uruguay, and Vietnam. The students share their knowledge, experience, and research with these business owners, helping them deal with such immediate challenges as internationalization, commercialization, financing, and marketing. Meanwhile, the students get intensive training in complex global environments, putting to use skills they have developed in international business and networking.

In recent years G-Lab has focused increasingly on developing markets in China, India, and Southeast Asia. Students work in teams with an exceptional variety of high-potential firms in an array of industries, ranging from an online video portal in Shanghai to an IT outsourcing firm in Bangalore, a vegetable oil producer in the Philippines, and a venture capital firm in Vietnam. Host companies praise the professionalism, commitment, and analytical skill of the G-Lab students. In the words of one CEO, “How do I feel about G-Lab? Very simple: I want another team.”

Global Scholars Fund
The MIT Sloan Fellows Program in Innovation and Global Leadership plans to launch a Global Scholars Fund to help organizations in underdeveloped nations prepare their most promising leaders for the challenges ahead. The fund will provide candidates with the financial assistance to attend this intense one-year degree program, the world's oldest program dedicated to educating global leaders. Each of the scholars chosen will be asked for a commitment to return to his or her home country after graduation. In this way, MIT Sloan can ensure that the skills and knowledge that the global scholars acquire will be invested in countries most in need of effective, visionary leadership.

MIT Global Startup Workshop
The MIT Global Startup Workshop is the world’s first conference on fostering entrepreneurship through supportive and catalytic infrastructure that epitomizes MIT’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Each year, about 30 MIT students organize the three-day conference in collaboration with partners from a different host country in order to discuss practical steps that can be taken by students, academic faculty, venture capitalists, government leaders, entrepreneurs, and top business leaders can take.

MIT Entrepreneurship Center: Global Programs
The MIT Entrepreneurship Center trains and develops leaders who will make high-tech ventures successful. MIT Sloan MBA students regularly join center projects with institutions, organizations, and individuals in regions of the world that are committed to high-tech entrepreneurship, including the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Taiwan.

CMI Enterprisers
This experimental program established by the Cambridge-MIT Institute brings together talented people from all around the globe for an intense week of entrepreneurship education. The result is a learning experience that celebrates diversity, builds self-confidence, and inspires meaningful relationships between future leaders of organizations in multinational settings.

CMI Enterprisers
This bold experimental program established by the Cambridge-MIT Institute brings together talented people from all corners of the globe for a week-long intensive experience in entrepreneurship education. The result is a learning experience that celebrates diversity, builds self-confidence, and inspires meaningful relationships between the world's future leaders.

CyberSpace & the Politics of Globalization
This initiative features a cluster of research projects focusing on the virtual dimensions of globalization. It explores the implications for national and international politics and knowledge networking in the domain of sustainable development. It is a collaborative project between MIT faculty in management, political science, engineering, and artificial intelligence.

Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change
MIT Sloan is part of the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, an interdisciplinary organization that conducts research, independent policy analysis, and public communication on issues of global environmental change. This initiative is dedicated to developing interdisciplinary research that focuses on the interactions among physical, chemical, and biological processes and their global ramifications.