Wharton School plays host to inaugural meeting with Chicago, Columbia, Kellogg, Harvard, MIT and Stanford also in attendance
PHILADELPHIA, PA.—The outgoing and incoming student government presidents of seven major business schools including University of Chicago (Booth), Columbia University, Northwestern University (Kellogg), Harvard, MIT (Sloan) and Stanford assembled at the Wharton School to engage in a three-day President’s Summit, at which was announced the formation of a student government coalition titled the “MBA Peer School Forum.”
The Forum seeks to provide a powerful platform for inter-school cohesion and collaboration among the different MBA student bodies, opening new frontiers for coordinating student led initiatives to bring positive impact to business and society. The outgoing and incoming student presidents of the member schools are scheduled to convene at least once each year for a President’s Summit where important issues on business education and student life (e.g., business ethics, diversity issues, social impact, alumni responsibilities, etc.) will be discussed and shared. The Forum also seeks to serve as a conduit for increased communication and knowledge sharing across all levels of the MBA student bodies.
Outgoing president of the Wharton Graduate Association, Akihisa Shiozaki, who conceived of the Peer School Forum structure, says, “We are delighted that our meeting last year has resulted in the formation of a structured inter-school coalition that will benefit generations of future business students. Throughout our dialogues started this weekend, we expect to explore great ideas and opportunities for collaboration.”
Discussions toward forming this formal institution emerged out of the successful gathering of business school student presidents hosted by Kellogg last spring, where the presidents shared extensive information on topics such as student conduct and etiquette, domestic and international student integration, recruiting/career management, and metrics to access faculty quality.
While many of these business schools have long engaged in such collaborative knowledge sharing at the administrative level, this is the first time the student governments of the seven business schools have agreed to form a structured foundation for such cross school collaboration and knowledge sharing.
About the Wharton School
The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania — founded in 1881 as the first collegiate business school — is recognized globally for intellectual leadership and ongoing innovation across every major discipline of business education. The most comprehensive source of business knowledge in the world, Wharton bridges research and practice through its broad engagement with the global business community. The School has more than 4,900 undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA, and doctoral students; more than 9,000 annual participants in executive education programs; and an alumni network of 85,000 graduates.
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For further information:
Contact: Peter Winicov
Title: Senior Associate Director of Communications
215-746-6471 or winicov@wharton.upenn.edu
Contact: Akihisa Shiozaki
Title: Outgoing President, Wharton Graduate Association
215-519-8284 or sakihisa@wharton.upenn.edu