A memorandum of understanding, signed Tuesday, will allow Brown and Instituto de Empresa, a top-ranked business school in Madrid and Segovia, to explore academic programs of mutual interest.

By TAB Staff | February 4, 2009 |

Senior administrators from Brown and the Instituto de Empresa in Madrid signed a memorandum of understanding Tuesday that could lead to a variety of collaborations between the two institutions. Instituto de Empresa, with campuses in Madrid and Segovia, is among the world’s most distinguished business schools, recently ranked second among non-U.S. business schools by Business Week and sixth worldwide by the Financial Times.

“During discussions in Spain and here in Providence, we have come to see how well Brown and Instituto de Empresa complement each other,” said David Kennedy, vice president for international affairs at Brown. “Students at Instituto de Empresa would benefit from our strength in humanities and the sciences, and Brown students would benefit from their strength in management education, distance learning, executive education, and international education.”

Representatives of Brown and Spain’s Instituto de Empresa at Tuesday’s signing. The memorandum signed Tuesday by Provost David Kertzer and Santiago Iñiguez, rector of Instituto de Empresa, does not establish new programs or formal institutional affilations. Rather, it provides a framework within which the two institutions can discuss joint educational, cultural and research activities, seminars, and faculty and student interactions.

Those activities could cover a broad range, from pre-college programs of language and cultural studies, to undergraduate and graduate studies, to international educational opportunities for mid-career business professionals in Spain and the United States.

“Brown and Instituto de Empresa share an interest in exploring ways to bring rigorous learning in the sciences and humanities into a relationship with knowledge and practice of commerce, management and entrepreneurship,” Kennedy said. “We look forward to welcoming Instituto Empresa students and faculty into our campus and community over the coming years, and to exploring together the research and educational synergies which we hope will result.”