Insead Asia to raise global exposure of students to help build Singapore talent, says dean

Insead Asia is making it its business to support Singapore’s strategy of wooing global talent and tapping their presence to groom locals for leadership roles at home and around the world.

The business school aims to do so by raising the exposure of its students to global peers, as well as increasing opportunities to learn at its four campuses around the world.

Professor Sameer Hasija, who became the dean of Insead Asia in February, said Singapore has invested diligently to bring the world’s top schools and universities here.

“The mindset is to have global exposure for Singaporeans and then for them to go out there and lead organisations. And, hopefully, they come back one day and bring that global exposure back,” he said.

A technology and operations management expert, Prof Hasija is Insead Asia’s first new dean in 18 years and the third since it opened in 2000.

The school talks frequently with the Singapore government about strategy, he said in an interview with The Straits Times.

In line with Singapore’s vision of being the hub for Southeast Asia and even the Asia-Pacific, Insead is positioning itself as the centre for intellectual conversations.

Prof Hasija, who is also Insead’s dean of executive education, said: “We have been launching a lot of executive education programmes with that mindset — bringing in local as well as global organisations, and making executives from these organisations interact with each other.”
 

Founded in France in 1957, Insead ranks among the world’s top institutions for its master’s as well as tailored executive programmes for organisations.

More than 900 students enrol in its flagship Master in Business Administration (MBA) programme each year, with over 300 choosing to start their curriculum in Singapore. For exposure, different parts of the programme are conducted across different campuses, including in San Francisco, Abu Dhabi and Fontainebleau in France.

About four per cent of its MBA students are Singaporeans. The school has more than 3,000 alumni here.

As the world becomes more polarised, Singapore executives get to put themselves forward with their unique perspective, said Prof Hasija.

Climate change, for example, means different things to India and China compared with Europe, which went through its industrial revolution much earlier.

“Singaporean leaders are in a position to get exposed to both these things at the same time. They are developing much more sensitivity to the complexities of different parts of the world,” he said. “They are, in my opinion, more world-savvy today than perhaps (leaders) in other parts of the world.”

Asked about observations that Singaporeans prefer the creature comforts of home to venturing overseas, Prof Hasija pointed again to exposure.

He said: “Mindsets change when you start observing things around you. You get fascinated by them and develop this deep desire to experience it more.”

At a time when the world is going through the effects of geopolitics, artificial intelligence, climate change, ageing, and the pandemic, executive education is booming.
 

As executives seek answers, analysts are forecasting double-digit growth. Market research firm Future Market Insights puts its bets on the executive education market size growing from US$46 million (S$60.1 million) in 2023 to over US$133 million by 2033.

Despite the proliferation of career coaches and consulting firms, Prof Hasija said executive education will hold its own, with its emphasis on evidence-based thinking.

Besides rigour and relevance, impact is another outcome the institution wants to achieve with its curriculum for its students.

Prof Hasija said: “When they go back to their offices, and it doesn’t change their behaviours, it doesn’t change their mindsets — the way they make decisions and how they make decisions — then we really didn’t achieve anything.”

Asked if the Singaporean culture of discouraging assertiveness affects the locals’ careers, he pointed to another advantage of working alongside foreigners.

“Even if the stereotype is true, exposure can change that,” he said. “Just observing people from all over the world and how they behave, how they interact, and how they proactively put their hand up, can inspire the next generation to say ‘Hey, maybe I can do this too."

On whether Singaporeans face invisible prejudice when it comes to senior positions at global companies, he said: “I hope it’s not true. And, honestly, I would not want to be a part of those kinds of organisations.”

If it happens, he urges workers to focus on themselves.

He said: “Think about developing their skills, their capabilities, their intelligence, and constantly make sure that they are driven by value and not by distractions.

“I genuinely believe that talent will get rewarded in the future. There is very little room for organisations to get by with suboptimal operating capabilities.”

He disagreed with the suggestion that Singaporeans lack ambition. Perhaps, he said, it is about making sure that young Singaporeans get more exposure and are able to take their ambition to the next level.

“Nobody can achieve what Singapore has achieved without ambition,” he said.
 

Source: The Straits Times ©️ SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction.