GSB relocates its European campus

The University’s Graduate School of Business is relocating its European campus from Barcelona to London, moving its Executive M.B.A. Program to leverage London’s corporate and financial power, and the city’s connections to market-oriented economies around the world. The move will be completed this summer.

Edward Snyder, Dean of the GSB and the George Pratt Shultz Professor of Economics in the GSB, said that after a highly successful decade in Barcelona, the move to London will further enhance academic and professional opportunities for GSB students and alumni, many of whom already work in London.

“Soon we will graduate our 700th executive from our Barcelona-based program, and we’re grateful to many people in that beautiful and exciting city for their support,” Snyder said. “But going forward, the GSB belongs in Europe’s business center. London is home to 86 corporate headquarters, and it’s no accident that business leaders rank London as the top European city in which to conduct business.”

Snyder pointed out that Chicago has been a leader over many decades in educating executives who want to pursue an M.B.A. without career interruption. In 1943, the GSB introduced the world’s first executive M.B.A. program, and it was the first to establish a truly global presence with a campus on three continents. Today, in Europe, Singapore and Chicago, professionals from the world’s best organizations study part time with Nobel prize-winning faculty.

“Europe is, of course, different in many ways than it was when we established our Barcelona campus. Unification has brought extraordinary growth, and the U.K. has led the economic charge,” said Snyder. He noted that London and its diverse citizens reflect the profile of the executives whom Chicago attracts. The European Executive M.B.A. Program educates students from the Middle East, Africa, India and every corner of Europe.

“We look forward to developing new programs in London, a city with strong connections to all sectors and all regions. The city is indisputably a global metropolis, with its strength in real estate, consultancy, finance and insurance,” Snyder said. “And with fully 25 percent of our curriculum involving interaction among our executive M.B.A. students in Asia, Europe and North America, the London platform will strengthen what already is an extremely effective and global learning system.”

The new GSB campus will be located in the Woolgate Exchange at 25 Basinghall Street.