University of Chicago GSB to Move Europe Campus to London; Leading Business School's Executive MBA Students and Global Alumni Will Benefit.

CHICAGO -- The University of Chicago Graduate School of Business will relocate its European campus from Barcelona to London, the top-ranking business school announced today. The move will be effective Summer 2005.

Chicago GSB Dean Edward A. Snyder said that after a highly successful decade in Barcelona, the school is moving its Executive MBA Program to leverage London's corporate and financial power, and the city's connections to market-oriented economies around the world. Snyder said the change will enhance academic and professional opportunities for GSB's students and alumni - many of whom work in London.

"Soon we'll graduate our 700th executive from our Barcelona-based program, and we're grateful to many people in that beautiful and exciting city for their support," Snyder said. "But going forward, the GSB belongs in Europe's business center. London is home to 86 corporate headquarters and it's no accident that business leaders rank London as the top European city in which to conduct business."

Snyder pointed out that Chicago GSB has been a leader over many decades in educating executives who want to pursue an MBA without career interruption. In 1943 Chicago GSB introduced the world's first executive MBA program, and Chicago GSB was the first to establish a truly global presence with a campus on three continents. Today, in Europe, Singapore and Chicago, professionals from the world's best organizations study part-time with GSB's Nobel Prize-winning faculty.

Snyder said, "Europe is, of course, different in many ways than it was when we established our Barcelona campus. Unification has brought extraordinary growth, and the UK has led the economic charge." He noted that London and its diverse citizens reflect the profile of the executives whom Chicago attracts. The European Executive MBA program hosts students from the Middle East, Africa, India, and every corner of Europe.

"We look forward to developing new programs in London, a city with strong connections to all sectors and all regions. The city is indisputably a global metropolis, with its strength in real estate, consultancy, finance, and insurance," Snyder said. "And with fully 25 per cent of our curriculum involving interaction among our executive MBA students in Asia, Europe, and North America, the London platform will strengthen what is already an extremely effective and global learning system."

The new GSB campus will be located in the Woolgate Exchange at 25 Basinghall Street.

About the University of Chicago GSB

The University of Chicago Graduate School of Business is one of the world's largest and oldest business schools. It offers full-time and part-time MBA programs in addition to a Ph.D. program, open enrollment executive education and custom corporate education. The school currently has campuses in Chicago, Barcelona and Singapore. Current enrollment includes 1,100 full-time MBA students, 1,900 part-time MBA students, and 110 Ph.D. students. Six current or former faculty members have won the Nobel Prize in Economics.

Included among the school's many successful alumni are: Philip Purcell, chairman and chief executive of Morgan Stanley, James Kilts, chairman, president and chief executive of Gillette, Karen Katen, president of Pfizer Global Pharmaceuticals, Peter Peterson, senior chairman of the Blackstone Group, and Brady Dougan, chief executive of Credit Suisse First Boston.

Six major media (Business Week, Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, U.S. News & World Report, The Economist Intelligence Unit and Forbes) all rank Chicago's MBA programs (full-time, part-time and executive) sixth or higher in their rankings of top business schools. In its recent ranking of U.S. schools, Business Week cited Chicago GSB as the "hands down favorite among companies that recruit MBAs."