Asia focus makes Singapore a popular location for learning

Insead, arguably the most prestigious business school in Europe, was facing a dilemma in the late 1990s - albeit a happy one. The school was growing at such a rapid rate that it had to invest in expansion - but where? Extend the famous Fontainebleau campus on the elegant outskirts of Paris, or open a second school elsewhere?

After much deliberation, the decision was taken to create a second campus in Asia. Singapore won the vote for location, and in 2000 Insead's first MBA class using the new Asian Campus opened for business with 56 students.

The investment paid off. In July this year, Insead announced it was increasing its annual intake in Singapore to 400 - a figure which, when combined with the 580 students following the same curriculum in Fontainebleau, would make Insead's one-year, full-time MBA programme the largest in the world, outstripping even Harvard.

Gopika Spaenle, associate director of admissions, marketing and financial aid, MBA programme, at the Singapore campus, was acknowledged that Insead's rapid expansion in Asia was due in no small measure to the world's growing focus on the region. There was, she said, increasing interest from students and recruiters, much of which has proved to be recession-proof.

However, the key to Insead's market-beating success, she believed, lay in the fact that the school's MBA programme was delivered identically and simultaneously on two campuses on two continents. 'This August we enrolled 180 students in Singapore - our largest intake - and there are an additional 320 in France, but we refer to them all together as one class. You can, for example, choose to enrol in Singapore, then go to Fontainebleau after you've finished your foundation courses, and finally come back later to complete your electives in Singapore.'

For people looking at career change, she said, this opened up very important opportunities for spending time in Asia and benefiting from all the networking activities and contacts on a different continent.

Insead claims to be one of the world's most international business schools in terms of demographics, citing the presence of students from 80 nationalities in the two 2009 classes as evidence.