Jim Pulcrano, IMD executive director

Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Financial Times has published its latest rankings for European executive education programmes and IMD in Lausanne remains high on its lists: third overall in executive education. which means IMD is ranked first in executive education outside the US and second worldwide in the newspaper’s average rankings from 2008-2010. For 2010 IMD currently ranks fifth for customized progammes (third in Europe) and third for open enrollment (second in Europe).

The news comes as something of a relief, after a difficult period.

Jim Pulcrano, IMD executive director, recalls the past year: “The economic crises of 2009 was every bit as bad as we thought at the beginning of the year, and thank God we took the measures that we did.  We were able to turn a small profit thanks to the cost-cutting and reorganization that was started in March 2009, and thanks to a lot of hard work by many unsung heroes at IMD.  The business that came in was twice to three times as hard to get, and the demands of participants were higher, but we delivered, and feel good about 2010.”

All programmes were hurt by the economic downturn

“The crises hit both our open and custom programmes,” says Pulcrano. “Custom programmes are big-ticket items, and also high-profile within companies, so as companies tried to ride out the downturn many of these were cancelled.

For open programmes it was a case of individuals often not wanting to be away from their desks during a time of crises.
The school is generally pleased with the rankings, says Pulcrano, saying they solidify IMD’s position as among the best in the world. “But good can always be done better.  We ranked first in the world in the international mix of participants, and we were  third on faculty diversity, but hopefully everyone would expect that from IMD.

“We still need to make more effort in our post-programme work with participants and companies, so that they get as much learning and impact as possible from their interactions with us on campus. With this, and all of our improvements efforts, I believe our efforts with NPS (Net Promoter Scores) will help us immensely.”

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