IE Business School

What Is the IE Business School?

The term IE Business School refers to a business school based in Madrid, Spain. The school offers degrees in undergraduate, graduate, and doctorate programs, along with courses in executive education.

Founded in 1973 by a team of three entrepreneurs, the school is known for cultivating an entrepreneurial attitude among its students. The school has partnerships with some of the most prestigious institutions in the United States. The school has more than 500 instructors, over 30 postgraduate programs, and more than 60,000 alumni who are based in 160 different countries.

How the IE Business School Works

The IE Business School is considered a highly innovative institution, which was founded in 1973 by a team of entrepreneurs. The school has a policy of proactively forging new partnerships with other educational institutions, including the Yale School of Management, the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and the MIT Sloan School of Management, among others.

As noted above, the school offers degrees at various levels. Undergraduate students can earn their Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) or work toward a dual degree in business with another discipline, such as law or international relations. Graduate offerings include a degree in management, finance, or one of the school's Master of Business Administration (MBA) programs. There are also doctorate degrees and courses in executive education.

The school’s dual-degree programs are also offered in collaboration with specific partner institutions so as to best combine the strengths of the organizations involved. For example, IE Business School partnered with Yale to offer a dual degree that combines an International Master of Business Administration (MBA) with a Master of Advanced Management.

IE Business School has a well-developed portfolio of foreign exchange agreements with international universities. Students who are enrolled at IE Business School can visit the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Italy, Israel, Singapore, India, Japan, and China. The school continues to strike up partnerships with others on an ongoing basis.

The school boasts an international faculty of more than 500 individuals. Its student body is made up of 6,500 people from more than 90 countries across its range of undergraduate, graduate, doctorates, and executive education courses. This translates to 90% of students who come from 70 different nationalities.

The full-time MBA program at IE Business School runs for a year, with admissions taking place every September and January.

Special Considerations

Unlike many B-Schools, IE Business School’s graduates develop careers in a wide range of industries. For example, job placements secured by the graduating class of 2018 were fairly evenly distributed among marketing and sales, finance and accounting, general management, consulting, and operations.

IE Business School provides students with programs in an in-class setting at its Madrid campus and also through Liquid Learning, an interactive, online model. Instruction takes place in English and Spanish. The school's philosophy is to teach students in a way that's structured just like the corporate world. Students gain experience through labs and other projects, as well as international competitions that allow them to collaborate with others to gain real-world experience.

IE Business School ranked in sixth place on Forbes' best one-year international MBA programs. The total cost, according to Forbes, was above $79,000. Roughly 87% of students were hired after they graduated, earning a median starting salary of $76,789.