'Business Education is More Meaningful Now Than Ever'

Francisco Veloso, dean of Insead, the business school 'for the world', on the shifting role of business education in times of geopolitical and economic uncertainty

- By PANKTI MEHTA KADAKIA

WHEN INSEAD WAS BORN IN 1957 in Fontainebleau, France, Europe was emerging from the devastation of World War 2 and looking to rebuild. In 2000, it set up a campus in Singapore, and in 2007, in Abu Dhabi. In 2020, Insead launched its San Francisco hub for business innovation.

Envisioned as the ‘business school for the world’, its purpose is growing stronger in 2025, says its dean Francisco Veloso, as the world moves away from the paradigm of getting flatter, towards being more insular.

In Mumbai recently to celebrate 25 years of the Singapore campus, Veloso spoke with Forbes India about carefully watching the situation for foreign students in the US, why business education is key during tumultuous times, and the role India can play to dispel the US-versus-China narrative. Edited excerpts:

Q Insead celebrates 25 years of its Asia campus in Singapore. How has its presence in Asia evolved over the years?

This was a fundamental part of affirming the way we saw our role in the world—of creating this bridge between cultures, ideas and people. Students can start their MBA in Asia and move to Fontainebleau (France) or switch around. This opportunity will continue to strengthen because of the significant development trajectory that continues to exist in Asia.

The other part that is quite meaningful is to make sure that we use this presence in Asia to contribute to this better understanding in an environment where the world is becoming a little bit more polarised. We went from a paradigm where people were thinking that the world was going to become flatter. It is clear that that's not the direction we're going in. And so, we're going to have valleys and mountains, and the way to deal with them is through bridges.