Ten years ago this month, INSEAD took a bold step to differentiate itself from other business schools: it opened a campus in Asia and became the first business school to have two fully-fledged campuses with permanent faculty - one in Europe, the other in Asia.
The school had already been providing executive education programmes in Asia for many years through its affiliate, the Euro-Asia Centre and in January 2000 the school began operating out of temporary premises in Singapore Science Park ahead of the inauguration of the second campus.
On October 23, 2000, the founder of modern Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, came to the new facility to inaugurate the campus, at that stage taking up about 13,000 square metres.
No sooner than it had opened the campus in Singapore than the school began looking for partnership opportunities in China and Japan (Straits Times, October 29, 2000), as well as grow the MBA programme quickly – ‘more than double next year's MBA intake at its new Asian campus here' (ST, December 19, 2000).
The ‘pioneering class' of 53 students came from 26 countries; some 23 of the participants came from Europe, with 19 from Asia.
In the early years, before the second phase was completed in 2005 (adding a further 6,000 square metres; see sidebar), the campus didn't have a major amphitheatre. But despite that, the campus has gone on to flourish and expand, giving INSEAD an edge over other business schools as it aims to become the Business School for the World, rather than a business school for Europe.
While it is difficult to imagine how INSEAD these days without the Asia campus, the route to establishing the campus was not smooth. It had taken decades of tentative steps in Asia, with the Euro-Asia Centre the vanguard in the region. INSEAD had been conducting executive programmes and research in the region since the mid-1970s – mainly through the EAC – but as economic growth in Asia began to surge in the ‘90s, it was felt a greater commitment from the school would be needed if this growth were to be tapped. Indeed, either the EAC had to grow or INSEAD itself would have to spearhead the charge.
As highlighted in a case study called ‘INSEAD: One School, Two Campuses – Going to Asia', the idea of a campus in Asia dated back to 1991 when the then co-Dean Claude Rameau proposed that INSEAD should have campuses in four locations: Fontainebleau, Berlin, Singapore and Brazil. That initial plan was seen as too ambitious though, with some stressing that INSEAD should serve European interests and focus its efforts on helping to bring about an integrated Europe.
In the years that followed, the plan to establish more substantial ties with Asia picked up pace as the region's economies boomed. At this stage, Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia was the favoured location, in part on the back of a potential partnership with a major conglomerate, Sime Darby.
Hong Kong was also in the running for a while, although the handover of the British colony back to China in 1997, and the uncertainty that it presented, would be a factor. The Singapore authorities, with the Economic Development Board liaising with the school, continued to make their case.
In July 1997, however, the Asian financial crisis struck, with the Thai baht being the first of many of the region's currencies to come under attack. The panic spread to other countries, but INSEAD held firm in its belief in Asia; its board and faculty continued to press ahead with the plans for a new campus.
Despite some concerns about academic freedom and about the risks generally in making such a substantial financial commitment, the school would eventually choose Singapore over Hong Kong and KL, the latter losing out in part due to the impact of the economic downturn in Malaysia and the school's wish not to be tied to a particular company.
The naysayers continued to argue that INSEAD should focus on Europe and that the risks were too great, but the then Dean Antonio Borges, his successor Gabriel Hawawini, who took over as Dean of the school as the Asia campus was opened, and Arnoud De Meyer, who would become the founding Dean of the Asia campus, continued to lobby for the campus, eventually gaining the support of sceptical faculty and board members.
Hawawini told INSEAD Knowledge that even though the project had its risks, it turned out to be a great success. “I believe beyond Singapore itself it has redefined INSEAD as a truly international business school and that was one of the motives. Although we were already perceived as one of the most international schools, with numerous nationalities represented in our programme, if you looked carefully we were very European. We felt that if we wanted to be a credible international school, we had to go beyond Europe and that's what Singapore allowed us to do.”
Ten years on in Asia, INSEAD is weathering the storms of another financial crisis – this time a global crisis rather than a regional one – but the prospects for Asia for bright, with economies in the region booming once again and few signs of any slowdown.
