An Islamic MBA
FT.COM mentioned, almost a year ago, the possibility of the creation of an Islamic MBA. I am not sure it ever happened, I am not sure it will ever happen, but I am sure there is a lot to be said about it. MBA education in particular is highly mainstream, with in almost all MBAs around the world a huge common part (that goes far beyond the fundamentals). There are some options in MBAs, there are some specialised MBAs, but they all perfectly fit the Anglo Saxon mainstream managerial thinking.
Years ago, we tried to do different while creating the Euro-Arab Management School in Granada, Spain. A project of the Arab League, the European Union and the Spanish Government. It proved extremely difficult to create an MBA that would at the same time address a large community (hence being mainly virtual) and being culturally relevant for Europe and the Arab world. The school was mentioned in the Barcelona declaration as an example of Euro-Arab cooperation. In the meantime, it was closed last year. Not since there would not be any interest, but most probably since we are not yet able to define an MBA that is culturally relevant for non mainstream thinkers.
Maybe we should not have an Islamic MBA, a Hindu MBA, etc, but we certainly would need MBA programs that make sense for non Anglo Saxon countries and cultures. And by preference, that do not exclusively address the "happy few".
