A group of second-year MBA students from the Columbia Business School spent one week in Cairo as part of a global immersion class conducted in partnership with the AUC Venture Lab. Describing their visit in one word, the students called it “impressive.” 

CBS students were paired with a V-Lab startup and worked together throughout the fall semester to create business plans and practice consultation. To complete the class, the students came to Cairo in January to meet with Egyptian business leaders and prepare a final presentation of their work with their assigned startups. 

“We had one week to visit companies, government officials, startups, IPOs and banks,” said Marco Viola, adjunct professor at the CBS and teacher of this course. “AUC is the top University in Egypt, and Columbia is a top university in the US, so I think it’s a great partnership.” 

The students worked with six startups that had all recently graduated from V-Lab and are in their early stages of business development.  

“We are very excited about this partnership,” said Ayman Ismail, Abdul Latif Jameel Endowed Chair in Entrepreneurship, associate professor at AUC's School of Business and founding director of the V-Lab. “We’re trying to provide a platform of internationalization for our Egyptian startups. It’s great exposure to work with people in the Columbia Business School. Many of those people will end up in investment banks, venture capital funds or companies that can offer potential opportunities in the future.”  

Kyle Knopick, a CBS student, worked with the startup Amanleek, an insurance tech platform that aims to bring transparency and convenience to insurance purchase in Egypt. 

“I was really impressed with the acumen of the founders,” he said. “They were impressive even in pre-launch, pre-revenue, pre-testing and how much thought they had put into their business model. Working with them throughout the last few months has been a really fun, interesting and educative process.” 

“I’ve had a great experience at AUC,” said Karan Bains, another CBS student working with Amanleek. “AUC provides great infrastructure, a great platform [for startups] and great programming. I’ve really enjoyed my time here presenting all the work that we’ve done with these founders over the last few weeks.” 

And the appreciation for work ethic and expertise went both ways. Ihab Al-Soukary ‘13, co-founder at Amanleek, said that working with the CBS students not only exposed his team to different business practices, but will actually help shape the business in the future. 

“They were attentive and helpful,” he said. “We had so many calls over the past two months to come up with findings that we will definitely use and that will help us direct our startup in our early stages. We’re lucky to be part of this program and learn a lot along the way from different models that will help us decide where to go in the next few months.” 

Another V-Lab startup taking part in the program was EatHeal, a medically tailored nutrition and food-service provider that works with clients to create meal plans that are customized to meet their health needs. 

“I’ve been looking forward to learning from them about their marketing strategies and how they retain customers,” said Rehab Abdel Maguid, founder of EatHeal. “The team was really helpful in helping benchmark EatHeal with other delivery services in the United States.” 

Like her classmates working with Amanleek, Roshan Prakash says she was not only impressed with the progress of EatHeal, but with the energetic startup community in Cairo as well. 

“We always hear and learn about different issues in emerging markets, and while those issues are there, these businesses could exist in the United States,” she said. “I’m glad to see that the higher education system in Cairo supports innovation.” 

The conversations among the CBS visitors went beyond AUC and touched on the growing entrepreneurial culture in the country, noting the large number of startups they visited and seeing the efforts of incubators like V-Lab.

“The entrepreneurial ecosystem still needs to be developed, but you have a lot of educated people willing to take the risk, which is not easy to do,” Viola said. Speaking about the role of V-Lab in that ecosystem, Viola added that “the ability to combine practical experience with academic interest and all the knowledge and know-how that AUC has is amazing. It’s a great program and already has had a lot of impact not only with specific people, but in the economy in general.”

The co-founders of Amanleek mentioned that without V-Lab, their company wouldn’t have gotten the networking, exposure and media coverage that were helpful in kickstarting their business. 

“Our experience with the V-Lab was exactly what we needed,” said Mohammed Mansour, co-founder and project manager at Amanleek. “We needed someone to give us a kickstart in terms of finalizing our business model, our revenue streams and our customer segments. We were lucky to have the license very soon. I’m really happy we chose the V-Lab and didn’t choose another incubator.” 

The V-Lab was founded eight years ago and has since graduated over 170 startups, which have raised more than EGP 1.5 billion in investments collectively and created over 8,000 jobs, according to Ismail. 

“All of the startups in this program are V-lab alumni, and it’s great to see their progress a year after graduation,” he said. “Most of them have launched a product and are now raising investments and even growing their businesses beyond Egypt. Within the next couple of years, we’ll see those companies going up the curve and creating some really interesting stories.”

AUC and the College of Charleston in South Carolina, both liberal arts institutions with a long legacy in education, have recently partnered on a new academic cooperation and student exchange program for both undergraduate and graduate students for a period of five years. 

Students from AUC and the College of Charleston will receive a scholarship to spend a semester or year abroad at the other institution, providing students with a unique international experience and strengthening East-West cultural ties. "Our new partnership with the College of Charleston represents an excellent opportunity for our students to spend a semester at one of the finest liberal arts and sciences institutions in South Carolina, which provides quality education along with authentic student experiences,” said Ahmed Tolba, ’97, ’01, associate provost for strategic enrollment management and associate professor of marketing at AUC. “It is ranked no. 1 among public universities in the United States in terms of the percentage of undergraduate study-abroad students. I look forward to hosting their students at AUC and having our students benefit from a unique experience there."

AUC Trustee Jonathan Wolf (YAB '75), founder and president of Wendover Housing Partners, LLC who was a study-abroad student at AUC, and his wife Nancy were instrumental in making this program a reality. They will provide funds for AUC students to spend a semester or year abroad at the College of Charleston, while Hilton and Catherine Smith, who serve on the College of Charleston’s School of Languages, Cultures and World Affairs advisory board, will fund College of Charleston students to come to AUC.

“To find and do and be of significance, you need to study in Cairo,” said AUC Trustee Wolf to Charleston’s The College Today. “As a Westerner, my first stop out of the U.S. was the ancient world. Cairo opened up what for me later became a career and way of life. It gave me confidence. If you can succeed in another culture with another language, then there’s nothing you can’t accomplish.”

Garrett Davidson (CASA ’04, MA ’06), who studied at AUC’s Center for Arabic Study Abroad and earned his master’s in Arabic studies from AUC and is now an assistant professor of Arabic and Muslim world studies at the College of Charleston, emphasized the importance of this global experience for students.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for both institutions,” Davidson told The College Today. “As a student at AUC, I established professional and personal connections that continue today. It was the most influential experience of my life. I explored all over Egypt. I met people from all walks of life and got to hear their views on everything from politics and religion to economics and food.”

The Wolfs also established the Nancy and Jonathan Wolf Study-Abroad Scholarship at AUC.

Egypt's Minister of International Cooperation Rania Al-Mashat '95 is beginning a new phase in her mission of public service to Egypt, after heading the Ministry of Tourism for the past two years. 

Driven by a sense of responsibility to give back to her country, Al-Mashat said on her Instagram and LinkedIn accounts: 

"When you choose public office, you serve where needed. At the outset of taking over the Ministry of Tourism in January 2018, I committed to changing the narrative on #Egypt's tourism sector and advancing its frontiers. As I embark on a new challenge, I refer to a quote in my chapter published in the book, Daughters of the Nile: Egyptian Women Changing their World (December 2016): “Serving Egypt by contributing to policies that would make the richness of the Nile flow to all its citizens is not only a mission, it's a passion." She added, “ I look forward to designing and implementing policies in another portfolio along my journey of public service.”

The first woman to head the Ministry of Tourism since its establishment 60 years ago and the youngest minister in Egypt when appointed in 2018, Al-Mashat will be credited for transparently launching a "comprehensive, coherent and consistent policy framework," the Egypt—Tourism Reform Program (E—TRP), designed to unleash the potential of Egypt’s tourism sector through implementing structural reforms. Consequently, tourism has become one of Egypt’s fastest growing sectors, witnessing an unprecedented rebound, with revenues growing annually by 28 percent to record $12.6 billion in FY2018/2109 — the highest in the country’s history — and $4.2 billion in FY 2019/2020.

Al-Mashat has been recognized internationally for her relentless efforts and outstanding contributions to the tourism sector, both domestically and globally. She received the 2019 World Travel & Tourism Council Champion Award for Resilience, demonstrating strong leadership and pioneering public policies and initiatives that have increased the competitiveness of the sector, leading it through a successful recovery from adverse events. Minister Al-Mashat also received the World Travel Market's 2019 Global Leaders Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Industry on behalf of the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism. The award recognized Egypt's Ministry of Tourism as the one that has contributed the most to the global travel and tourism industry over the last two years. This marks the first time for Egypt to receive these awards.

For the first time, AUC was the main partner and host of #RiseUpAtAUC, the one-stop-shop event connecting startups in the Middle East and Africa, with more than 20 of AUC’s faculty and alumni as guest speakers.

In his speech at the opening of RiseUp ‘19, AUC President Francis Ricciardone emphasized the University’s role in inspiring its students to utilize their education to better serve Egypt and the communities around them. “At AUC, Egypt’s global University, we bring the world back to Egypt and we bring Egypt to the world — and not only for tourism, which is a wonderful thing, but for learning, creating, researching and developing projects and products that will improve lives. That’s what AUC is about. This is the right place for RiseUp Summit 2019,” said Ricciardone.

In its seventh edition, the summit bustled with the region's top entrepreneurs, startups, investors, creative masterminds and Fortune 500 companies. This year’s summit built on past ones, focusing on the Journey to Growth as its main theme, as well as drawing the line between the past, present and future. The three-day summit included talks, panels and chats; in-depth workshops and boot camps; networking sessions with hundreds of investors; talent matchmaking events; and exclusive satellite events.

AUC alumni speakers included Mohamed Aboul Naga ‘09, co-founder and CCO of Halan; Yaseen Abdel Ghaffar ‘10, managing director of SolarizEgypt; and Karim Fahmy ’17, CEO and co-founder of Inploy, who all stood on RiseUp’s stage to tackle different entrepreneurial topics together with international figures in various fields, including Brian Collins, chief creative officer at COLLINS; Gerardo Mazzeo, global innovation director at Nestlé; Karen Cheng, head of social at 9GAG; Marcel Muenster, founder and director of the Gritti Fund; Raya Abirached, TV presenter; and Samih Sawiris, founder of Orascom Holding AD.

“It feels very nostalgic to be back on campus for the RiseUp summit this year," said Islam Shawky, CEO and co-founder of PayMob, an infrastructure technology enabler providing payment solutions company. "I started school in 2008, so AUC New Cairo is the only campus I know. We started our company on this campus, as the six members of the founding team are AUC graduates, so we are extremely nostalgic.”

Among the workshops that took place throughout the three-day entrepreneurial marathon was one held by Kim Fox, professor of practice in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, titled What You Need to Know About Starting Your Own Podcast.

“I'm such a fan of RiseUp Summit because it brings together the vibrant community of thought leaders, creatives and more; the energy is contagious and inspiring,” said Fox. The ability to reach out to other attendees and speakers for potential collaborations and knowledge sharing is achievable and encouraging. It was nice to see so many of my former students and colleagues there.”

Ramez Youssef, co-founder of Tayarah, a creative production agency, also held a workshop titled From Trendsetters to Trend-Seekers. “RiseUp Summit feels so different this year, being at AUC New Cairo. The content is also different, as different people are delivering different messages,” he said. 

Startups from AUC Venture Lab (V-Lab), Egypt’s first University-based startup accelerator and a leading accelerator in the Middle East and Africa, also participated in the summit. In a special booth for the V-Lab, graduates of this year’s cycle shared their experiences with the attendees and highlighted the impact of their ideas and businesses on the Egyptian economy.

"The AUC Venture Lab had a strong presence in RiseUp Summit this year, with more than 24 startups presenting their innovations to the summit participants, investors and international partners,” said Ayman Ismail '95, '97, Abdul Latif Jameel Endowed Chair of Entrepreneurship; associate professor at School of Business and the founding director of the AUC Venture Lab. AUC also announced the launch of the new Innovation Hub, focusing on attracting corporate innovation labs to be based on campus and expand their collaboration with AUC faculty and students. Our end goal is to create a collaborative community of entrepreneurship and innovation at AUC and Egypt.”

RiseUp Summit 2019 held a competition for the best educational applications at the event, where AGORA, a V-Lab startup, ranked first and won the African App Launchpad Cup and a monetary prize. AGORA is an ed-tech app that empowers children to explore the world around them and learn from it through Augmented Reality.

The summit also included a Creative Marketplace featuring some of Cairo’s creative startups that displayed their products, including Doodle Factory and Babyfist.

As AUC turns 100, the University is not only celebrating its century-long achievements, but also looking to the future, ushering in a new centennial of innovation and service to the community.

Checkout AUC' centennial website to know  more about the upcoming centennial events.

Watch here some of AUC President Francis Ricciardone's insights about the event.

#RiseUpAtAUC  #AUCFutureMakers

Climate change is a global threat. According to NASA, 97% percent of climate scientists agree that human activities are the main cause of climate-warming trends over the past century, and most of the leading scientific organizations worldwide have issued public statements endorsing this position.

A study co-authored by Angie Abdel Zaher (MBA ’00), assistant professor of accounting, titled “Vulnerability to climate change: Are innovative countries in a better position?” takes another perspective, highlighting the impact of a country’s degree of innovation on its vulnerability to climate change.  

The more we know about the unknown, the less fearful it can become and the less damage it can project, explained Abdel Zaher, highlighting the ultimate theme behind the study. The research findings prove that a country can cope with adverse effects of climate change by knowledge exploration (as evidenced by research and development spending) and application (as evidenced by patenting). 

Most of the research nowadays focuses on the consequences of climate change. However, international business research on this issue falls short.  

“Climate change is happening and is influencing our livelihood in multiple ways,” she said. “Many studies have reflected on the danger it carries in terms of global warming and the environmental influences. However, among financial leaders, climate change is threatening the way they do business as it will never be ‘business as usual’ again.”  

Using a longitudinal sample of 73 countries for the years from 1998 to 2013, the study looks at the impact of innovation, openness to trade, and regulatory quality on a country’s vulnerability to climate change. Research findings indicate that R&D expenditures as a percentage of GDP (innovation input), openness to trade, and regulatory quality decrease a country’s vulnerability to climate change. In addition, openness to trade moderates the effect of patenting rates (innovation output) on a country’s vulnerability to climate change.

“Climate change impacts the country’s economic, social, and environmental livelihood, but the way each country deals with its own vulnerability to climate change will vary depending on how it utilizes its knowledge resources to combat such vulnerability,” affirmed Abdel Zaher.

From accounting equations to vulnerability of climate change, accountants are usually asked to project and analyze potential risks affecting the business operations. They go beyond the numbers, investigating factors that may threaten the client’s bottom line profits. Auditors are usually asked to give projections a year ahead about the financial business viability, and with such environmental issues coming to play, the predictions are shady.

“More than 1,500 of the world’s large companies are adopting the framework of the International Integrated Reporting Council, mandating companies to disclose environmental and social governance concerns to assess its performance,” added Abdel Zaher. “We, as accounting professionals, have tried to clarify some of these climate change concerns, but it is not enough to combat the hazards of climate change.” 

Abdel Zaher’s research aims to shed light on issues that are critical across the globe through the examination of country factors. It produces insights into how countries’ commitment to knowledge creation and application can better translate into sustainability. The research also stresses on the role that Multinational companies can play, in which their strategic choices can directly impact the outcomes of climate change policy, as they are mechanisms of knowledge and technology transfer and thus the benefits in one country can be used to feed into the need of another country to manage its climate change risks

“The findings will not just benefit the policymakers of the countries considered, but also those multinational companies that are crossing borders and must consider the risks of climate change on their operations,"  said Abdel Zaher.

#AUCFutureMakers 

Egypt's Ministry of Tourism recently won the World Travel Market's 2019 Global Leaders Award for Outstanding Contribution To The Industry at the biggest event of the global travel industry, the World Travel Market, which brings together a total of 5,000 exhibitors from around the globe and gathering more than 30,000 attendees. During the event, Egypt was honored among the very best in the travel industry.

Our very own alumna and Minister of Tourism Rania Al-Mashat '95 was presented the award in appreciation for the ministry's efforts in the past two years to promote tourism and having the biggest impact on the industry, marking the first time Egypt receives the award. When appointed in 2018, Al-Mashat became the first woman to hold the position and the youngest minister in Egypt.

Throughout her career, Al-Mashat has emphasized being driven by a sense of responsibility to give back to her country. “Serving Egypt by contributing to policies that would make the riches of the Nile flow to all its citizens is not only a mission; it’s a passion,” she said in her chapter of the book, Daughters of the Nile: Egyptian Women Changing Their World (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2016). You can read her feature on AUCToday's "Voices of the People" here. 

The award reflects another year of robust growth for Egypt’s tourism sector, reinforcing its role as a driver of economic growth and job creation. The predominant goal of Egypt’s Tourism Reform Program is to have a minimum of one individual from every Egyptian household work directly or indirectly in the tourism sector. The ministry has so far demonstrated that setting policy frameworks is not a theoretical approach but actually executable, as tourism revenues have accelerated, reaching an all-time high in 2018/2019.

Al-Mashat currently serves as a member of the Dean's Strategic Advisory Board in AUC's School of Business.

For the first time, AUC will be the main partner and host of RiseUp Summit, the one-stop-shop event connecting startups in the Middle East and Africa.

In its seventh edition, RiseUp will host the region's top entrepreneurs, startups, investors, creative masterminds and Fortune 500 companies in a three-day entrepreneurial marathon. For the first time, RiseUp summit will also feature Arabic content, where various speakers from the region will present their own journey of growth on stage in Arabic.

This year’s theme is designed to build on past years’ summit content, focusing on the journey of growth as well as drawing the line between the past, present and future. The three-day summit will include talks, panels and chats; in-depth workshops and bootcamps; networking sessions with hundreds of investors; talent matchmaking events; and exclusive satellite events.

“We see value in accommodating such a major event like RiseUp Summit in our centennial year, in which we are expecting more than 8,000 participants coming from 50 to 60 different countries as well as many prominent speakers,” said Alaa Adris, associate provost for research, innovation and creativity at AUC. “We see our collaboration with RiseUp more of a sustainable relationship because we can see them as part of our innovation hub, our commercialization of technology efforts, and many other areas of interest and future plans.”

Through the summit, startups will have the opportunity to assess their current situation, and determine how they can progress steadily but confidently from their core to their vision, through strategy, execution, tips, and tricks.

“Having organized the summit for the past seven years, we were able to identify the challenges faced by startups in the region, which allowed us to develop a complete model that they can follow when venturing through the entrepreneurship ecosystem,” explained AbdelHameed Sharara, chief executive officer and co-founder of RiseUp. “After dissecting growth, we found that there is no fixed manual on how to grow; it is a personal and unique journey for each entrepreneur. So what we can offer to people is diverse [with] unlimited resources and opportunities, along with a roadmap that guides them through this journey. Being committed to our own growth strategy, we decided to move to AUC's New Cairo campus, allowing us to grow further in all aspects.”

The speaker line-up will feature many international figures in various fields, including Brian Collins, chief creative officer at COLLINS; Gerardo Mazzeo, global innovation director at Nestlé; Karen Cheng, head of social at 9GAG; Marcel Muenster, founder, and director of the Gritti Fund and Raya Abirached, TV presenter.

"AUC Venture Lab has always been an early believer in RiseUp Summit. This year, we are excited to have RiseUp at AUC New Cairo campus for the first time, bringing thousands of entrepreneurs, investors and ecosystem players from Egypt, MENA and beyond. We're pleased to have a strong presence through our startups and to contribute to the Summit's program," said Ayman Ismail '95, '97,  Abdul Latif Jameel Endowed Chair of Entrepreneurship; associate professor at School of Business and the founding director of the AUC Venture Lab. 

“We are exploring with RiseUp other collaboration opportunities like founding an academy for entrepreneurship, for instance, where students can come to learn and acquire basic skills for entrepreneurship. This is just the beginning,” affirmed Adris.

Click here to know how to get your tickets.

#AUCFutureMakers

The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab at AUC (J-PAL) is partnering with UNICEF Egypt to host the first Global Evidence for Egypt seminar titled “Overcoming Youth Unemployment in Egypt: What We Can Learn from Randomized Evaluations.”

The seminar is part of a four-part Global Evidence for Egypt Spotlight Series, bringing together Egyptian policymakers and leading J-PAL affiliated professors to discuss policy issues in the Egyptian context — including labor, education, health and social protection — tackling the issues a global research perspective and then offering evidence-informed solutions to address these issues in Egypt. Sunday's seminar will feature representatives from the Ministry of Manpower; Ministry of Youth; Hana Yoshimoto, education chief at UNICEF; and Bruno Crépon, affiliated professor at J-PAL. Check out the event here.

Most recently, J-PAL co-founders Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo were jointly awarded the 2019 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in memory of Alfred Nobel “for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty.” 

Banerjee and Duflo are also the co-founders of the MITs MicroMasters Program. AUC is the first University in the region to offer a blended degree, pairing with MIT to grant MITx MicroMasters online learners credits that would count toward the completion of a full master’s degree at AUC, offering a possible pathway to earning a full master’s degree from AUC in economics in international development. AUC is the first University in the world to collaborate with MIT in recognizing credits for this particular online program. Read more about the collaboration here. 

In September 2018, AUC established the J-PAL/AUC initiative under the auspices of the School of Business. Its mission is to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by rigorous evidence. This is achieved through conducting randomized evaluations with Egyptian partners, disseminating evidence to policymakers and capacity building for the purpose of evidence-informed decision making across different sectors, including education, finance and labor. The initiative also creates opportunities for faculty members from AUC, Egypt and the Middle East to collaborate with J-PAL affiliates on research projects.

"Our research and teaching collaboration through the MIT MicroMasters Program with J-PAL is one of the most promising and exciting recent developments at AUC," said Mona Said, associate professor in AUC's Department of Economics. "Establishing ourselves as a research and capacity-building hub in this area has great potential for our faculty, program visibility, student learning and graduate careers. Most important — and herein lies why the 2019 Nobel Prize awarded to J-PAL co-founders was entirely deserved — it is excellent evidence-based research that will lead to policies that improve the well-being of many people in Egypt and the world at large."

J-PAL was originally founded at MIT in 2003 and has now expanded to become a global research center around the world with regional centers in Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, North America, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. It is anchored by a network of 181 affiliated professors and 400 staff members at universities worldwide.

RiseUp Summit is coming to AUC New Cairo for the first time and is expected to attract 8,000-10,000 people, representing 60 countries. Startups and speakers from all around the world will be on campus from December 5 to 7 to conduct talks and workshops, and to inspire young entrepreneurs. Check out the RiseUp website to see how you can volunteer or get tickets. 
Stay tuned for more information on one of the biggest events of the year!

This fall, AUC welcomed the first cohort of students to its Master in International Management/CEMS (The Global Alliance in Management Education) — the only AUC program ranked by the Financial Times and The Economist. AUC is the only CEMS academic partner in Africa and the Middle East.

“CEMS is one of the best and the only graduate program in the history of AUC and the Egyptian and Middle Eastern education that enjoys a Financial Times ranking in the top 10 universities,” said Hakim Meshreki, visiting assistant professor of marketing and CEMS academic director.

With a vision to “comprise the world’s finest students”, students spend a full calendar year at the CEMS program. The first semester is spent at their home university, and the second semester abroad as an exchange program in one of the 31 schools and academic partners. The student can follow the opposite track whereby they can spend the first semester abroad and the second semester at their home university. The third semester is an eight-week semester of international internship outside their home university, where they are exposed to the international flavor of a global organization through an internship outside their home country — preferably in one the 68 CEMS corporate partners.

By the time they graduate, students should prove their mastery of three languages, approved by CEMS, including the English and Arabic languages. "You can’t be a global manager without being able to communicate in at least three languages or even more,” affirmed Meshreki.

“The unique global network and the perfect balance between academia and practical international experience are what made me enroll in the CEMS program,” said Julian Friedrich Sendlmeier, a German student enrolled in the program.

CEMS started back in 1988 by four European universities to form a Master in International Management that has the multicultural aspect of managing global firms. With more than 30 academic partners worldwide, CEMS has an edge in combining academic and practical approaches, graduating global managers in different countries worldwide. The program has 20 academic partners in Europe, two partners in North America, two partners in South America, six partners in Asia, and one in Africa and the Middle East: AUC.

CEMS also has over 70 corporate partners from all over the world including Henkel, Procter & Gamble, Bain & Company, DHL Consulting, Google, Facebook and Hyundai and many others from various industries.  

“I chose to enroll in the CEMS Master in International Management because it is not the typical master’s program where you would go by the book,” said Yara Koura, one of the CEMS students at AUC.

CEMS is a pre-experience program that neither requires years of experience nor GMAT score to join the program. "You just need to pass through the panel interview, which is one of the things we base our decision on apart from other basic University requirements like GPA,” explained Meshreki. “We base our selection criteria on different dimensions, including global mindset and openness to differences; resilience and competitiveness; and ethics and social responsibility.”

For more information about the program, click here.