Pre-MBA Leadership Program Gains Global Diversity

The Yale School of Management has expanded its Pre-MBA Leadership Program to place a greater emphasis on global diversity. Beginning in summer 2012, the program, renamed the Global Pre-MBA Leadership Program will include undergraduate students from a select group of universities in Brazil, China, Ghana, Indonesia, Mexico, and Singapore.

The annual two-week long program began in 2009 with a focus on introducing U.S. students from populations typically under-represented in management education to the fundamentals of an MBA degree and the tools necessary to hone individual leadership skills. It is open to college sophomores, juniors, and seniors as well as recent graduates. In 2011, it expanded to include students from two Brazilian universities—University of São Paulo and Fundacão Getulio Vargas—with support from Goldman Sachs Gives, a donor-advised philanthropic fund.

This year, again partnering with Goldman Sachs Gives, the program will extend its international reach, drawing on schools in the Global Network for Advanced Management. Students will attend from Fudan University, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, University of Ghana, University of Indonesia, National University of Singapore, Renmin University of China, and Tecnológico de Monterrey. Participants from Brazil's Insper will also attend, joining the returning University of São Paulo and Fundacão Getulio Vargas (now a Global Network member).

"Focusing on global diversity will enrich the program, meaningfully exposing both under-represented students from the U.S. and students from an interesting set of countries to the complexities within and between societies," said Yale SOM Dean Edward A. Snyder. "Providing students with an understanding of these complexities is critical in management education in today’s flatter, but non-convergent, world."

Participating schools have been invited to select two high-potential undergraduates from their universities to attend the program, which will take place June 10–23.