HEC rated best provider of executive education

HEC Paris, which launched its executive MBA programme in Qatar earlier this year, was recently ranked the world’s best provider of executive education by the Financial Times, proving an indication that Qatar continues to bring in the very best in terms of educational institutions from throughout the world.The business school, which began operations in Doha in February in partnership with Qatar Foundation, was previously ranked second worldwide, until earlier this month when the new rankings were announced.Competing against well known institutions including Harvard Business School, IMD, University of Oxford, University of Stanford and various other top quality educational organisations, the number one ranking singles out HEC Paris as offering the programmes that were voted the best by customers.Gulf Times spoke to the deputy dean of HEC Paris, professor Bertrand Moingeon and the director of global initiatives and acting COO of HEC Paris in Qatar, Joshua Kobb about the recent ranking and HEC Paris’ hopes for the future in Qatar.Heralding the “excellent relationship” between Qatar and France, Moingeon said that the shared values of the countries and their commitment to lifelong learning makes for a fruitful partnership between Qatar Foundation and HEC Paris.“We strongly believe that the most important thing is to provide programmes for executives in which they step back and think of their roles as executives and how to do business,” said Moingeon, adding “our motto is ‘the more you know, the more you dare.’” “We are very proud to be here and we have had very positive feedback so far,” he added.“We only arrived recently and we got off to a very fast start,” said Kobb, explaining that HEC Paris Qatar offers a number of other open enrolment programmes alongside the executive MBA.The institution also offers fully customisable courses, and will provide services to companies throughout the region, although they have made a conscious decision to be based in Qatar.“We made the decision to be here in Qatar, and we will be able to offer our expertise from our platform here,” said Kobb.President of the Hamad bin Khalifa University and vice-president of education at Qatar Foundation, HE Abdulla bin Ali al-Thani praised HEC Paris after the ranking was announced: “I would like to extend my warmest congratulations to HEC Paris for the recognition they have achieved as the world leader in executive education.”“Qatar Foundation is proud to have developed such a close partnership with HEC in Qatar, and we are greatly encouraged by their contribution to the National Development Strategy and the role they will play within Hamad Bin Khalifa University,” he added.Al-Thani’s comments reflect the fact that HEC Paris has been brought into Qatar with a long term strategy in mind, with the aim of contributing to the future of research and the development of education in the country and the region.“We are very proud of this achievement,” said Kobb, adding “and I think it really shows that Qatar Foundation is bringing the best institutions from around the world here to Education City.”“It validates the fact that Qatar is investing in bringing the best expertise to develop a knowledge based economy for the future,” he added.