France’s Grenoble GSB to Offer an MBA in Berlin

A new option to pursue a full-time MBA in Berlin will be available through the triple-accredited French business school, Grenoble École de Management (GEM), from January 2017.

“We are very happy to run programs in Berlin, one of the most cosmopolitan and vibrant cities in the world,” said Santiago Garcia Rodriguez, dean of Grenoble Graduate School of Business (GGSB) through which GEM offers postgraduate programs in the English language.  

For the full-time and one-year MBA program offered from its base in southeastern France, Grenoble Graduate School of Business placed among the top five business schools in France in QS’s MBA rankings for Europe 2014/15. The school also currently offers a part-time version of its MBA in Russia and Georgia, in conjunction with the Institute of Business Studies at Russian Presidential Academy (RANEPA) and the Caucasus School of Business, respectively.

The new MBA in Berlin, however, will be available on a full-time one-year basis and will be housed at a new campus for Hannover-based institution, GISMA Business School (no, that’s not a reference to the main mogwai character in the 1984 film, Gremlins; GISMA happens to stand for German International Graduate School for Management and Administration).

Demand expected for Grenoble Graduate School of Business’ German offering  

If all these institutional acronyms are starting to make you feel weary, fear not! The key takeaway here is that this MBA in Berlin is really an MBA from France, as the degree will be conferred by Grenoble Graduate School of Business and will bear its name (some of program’s electives can also be taken from its French campus). It comes with a price tag of €31,000 (c. US$35,000) – the same as the current cost of taking the degree in Grenoble – and requires participants to have a minimum of three years’ prior work experience.

• See how the Grenoble Graduate School of Business (GGSB) MBA fared in QS’s 2015 MBA ROI report for Europe.

Academic dean at GISMA, Steve Priddy, expressed his confidence that there would be suitable demand for a new MBA program option in Germany’s capital, while the institution’s managing director, Thorsten Thiel, said: “While Grenoble École de Management/GGSB will bring a range of high quality, triple-accredited programs to our new campus, GISMA will be able to complement the learning experience thanks to its wide expertise in the German market.” Indeed, as well as the MBA, Grenoble’s pre-experience master’s in international business will also be offered from Berlin from the start of 2017. 

• You can check out your other options to study an MBA in Berlin in TopMBA.com’s city guide.

The wider Grenoble École de Management, meanwhile, seems just as set on enhancing its profile and impact. Just last week came the announcement that the school is joining forces with EMLYON Business School to form an alliance - Alliance Lyon Grenoble Business School – that, starting in the fall (autumn), will see the two schools pool their faculty expertise and work together on PhD and DBA programs as well as in building relationships with companies and the staging of annual events.