The Community of European Management Schools (CEMS)

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1. The Idea
2. The Universities
3. Our Corporate Members
4. The European Diploma - The CEMS-Master
5. Inter-Faculty-Groups
6. The CEMS Business Review
7. Co-operation-programmes
8. The CEMS Career Forum
9. The CEMS Alumni Association

1. The Idea

Since 1979 the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences of the Universität zu Köln has been participating in the Programme of International Management (PIM) founded in 1973. Twenty leading European and non-European universities participate in this Programme and have developed close bonds in their exchange activities.

The positive experience within the PIM-network incited four universities, one of which was the Universität zu Köln, to transfer the endeavours of integrating Europe to the academic curriculum by making reality the idea of a close association of European universities. In 1988, CEMS, the Community of European Management Schools, was founded and 15 universities now belong to CEMS.

CEMS is continually challenged by the need to harmonise whilst preserving the variety of academic traditions. For all those involved, CEMS not only constitutes a way to "live Europe" but also represents a mission that is pursued with enthusiasm and energy.

2. The Universities

The following universities belong to the CEMS-network:

Budapest University of Economic Sciences
Copenhagen Business School
Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam
ESADE (Barcelona)
HEC - École des Hautes Études Commerciales, Paris
Hochschule St Gallen
London School of Economics
Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration, Bergen
Stockolm School of Economics
Universita Commerciale Luigi Bocconi (Milan)
Universität zu Köln
Université Catholique de Louvain
Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien
University of Economics Prague*
Warsaw School of Economics*
* candidate members

3. Our Corporate Members

One particularity of CEMS is that not only universities, but also companies take part in CEMS. Depending on its size, each country has three to seven corporate members with global operations. This underlines the importance for CEMS of the relation between the academic world and practitioners.

The CEMS Executive Board comprises nine company representatives and the General Assembly involves all corporate members.

The following companies belong to the CEMS-network:

4. The European Diploma - The CEMS-Master

After passing a specific selection process, qualified students of member universities can join the CEMS-study-programme. The completion of the Programme leads to the award of a master degree. To receive the CEMS-Master, students have to the fulfill several requirements corresponding to the profile of future European managers: Apart from the regular degree of their respective home universities, other requirements include one term of study at a CEMS partner university, a qualified internship of at least ten weeks in a foreign country, and the successful completion of six management-courses with an international curriculum as well as language and communication tests in two foreign languages. Both the management-courses and the communication tests have been jointly elaborated by all CEMS-universities.

The first CEMS-Master degree ceremony took place at the Università Bocconi in Milan in 1990 and included 90 graduates from all over Europe. After HEC near Paris in 1991 (121 graduates), the Universität zu Köln hosted the CEMS graduation in 1992 (144 graduates). Then followed Rotterdam in 1993 (222 graduates), Louvain-la-Neuve in 1994 (238 graduates) and St. Gallen in 1995 (250 graduates). The 1996 degree ceremony will be held in Barcelona.

5. Inter-Faculty-Groups

Professors of all CEMS-universities from several departments meet between once and three times a year to define the content of classes, to elaborate joint publications and to run joint research projects.

6. The CEMS Business Review

The first edition of the CEMS Business Review was released in June 1996. In this journal professors of CEMS universities publish practically-minded articles on contemporary business issues.

7. Co-operation-programmes

CEMS its the official European partner of several other university networks: In 1996 the ASEAN-EC Management Centre located in Brunei as a joint institution of the CEMS-universities and five Southeast Asian universities has been created. Furthermore, CEMS co-operation-programmes with the university networks FIPSE in North America and ALFA in Latin America exist.

8. The CEMS Career Forum

The CEMS Career Forum takes place parallel to the degree ceremony. CEMS-students and graduates get in touch with representatives of the corporate members to establish first contacts or to hold selection interviews.

9. The CEMS Alumni Association

The CEMS-Master constitutes the door to an international career for many CEMS-graduates: Almost 30 percent of all CEMS-graduates begin their professional career in a foreign country. Currently, they are working in over 30 sectors in 20 countries world-wide.

The CEMS Alumni Association was founded in 1992 in order to maintain contacts and friendships with former CEMS student fellows from all over Europe. Common holiday trips twice a year as well as the Alumni-Newsletter "CEMS-Magazine" provide examples of how former students are attached to CEMS.

In the future, the envisaged Alumni-database will also contribute to job placement of CEMS-graduates who are already working.