IMD business school for management and leadership courses
Improving gender diversity
As part of our mission, we recognize the need to support and raise the profile of women in business. We are steadily improving gender diversity in our degree programs, aiming towards gender parity. The overall improvement in gender diversity has been driven by a concerted effort to increase female enrolment in our programs. It is further supported by the community’s contribution to scholarship opportunities.
We have seen progress in the percentage of women enrolled in the MBA program. The percentage of female MBAs has reached 37% in 2024 – the highest percentage of female MBAs to date and a significant improvement when compared to female participation of 24% 10 years ago. The number of women graduating from the EMBA program in 2024 was 30.4%, compared to 26.3% in 2023. IMD introduced partial scholarships for participants in 1997 to attract more women to our MBA program and continued to seek sponsors for these scholarships in 2024. In the class of 2024, 33 females MBAs received a scholarship.
Increasing the percentages of female MBA and EMBA participants will remain a key priority of the programs’ recruitment strategy. Partnering with our donors and alumni, as well as continuing with DE&I initiatives, will remain central to ensuring that these are program destinations of choice for female candidates as well as candidates from other underrepresented groups.
Further, in line with our DE&I commitments, we try to feature a more diverse and representative faculty in these programs. We are applying the same approach to our case studies and guest speaker selection and encourage our faculty to use more representative business cases.
Gender diversity in our MBA program
of the 2024 MBA class are women
women received an MBA scholarship
of EMBA 2024 graduates are women
Enabling geographical diversity
IMD’s success is rooted in the international diversity of our faculty, staff, and participants. Diversity results in rich classroom conversations and transformative experiences, and we celebrate the varied cultural, educational, and life experience backgrounds that are a distinguishing feature of our programs.
We continue to focus on broadening the diversity of nationalities and cultures in our MBA and EMBA programs. Between 2019 and 2024, MBA enrolment from Africa and the Middle East increased from 3% to 6%. We have 44 nationalities attending our MBA program, compared to 36 in 2023. Further, in IMD’s new Master of Science in Sustainable Management and Technology program, almost half of the participants hail from abroad.
Our substantial investments in technology have enabled companies to choose whether online learning better suits their needs versus an on-campus pedagogical learning experience. We offer in-person learning, online learning, and hybrid programs. These investments in technology have also allowed us to reach learners in new geographic regions and to penetrate deeper into organizations. Our award-winning Sprint program has enabled us to extend the reach of our programs, in 2024 we launched the Business Creativity and Innovation Sprint program, which was attended by 77 people.
Where our MBA participants come from
Engaging our IMD community
The greater IMD community, comprised of alumni, donors, and partners, sustains our recruitment efforts. They volunteer, fund scholarships, promote lifelong learning, and carry the institute’s name with pride. Together, they help us to develop talented and altruistic leaders who can have a lasting, positive impact on the world.
Volunteers also make a positive impact on IMD. In 2024, more than 200 volunteers led workshops, assisted with student job searches, advised on projects, and more. Our network of alumni clubs and communities of interest supports accessibility and diversity and bolsters our global recruitment efforts. In 2024, the Development and Alumni Relations Office worked with 49 registered alumni clubs and four communities of interest.
IMD hosted another successful Giving Day campaign in May 2024, as part of our multi-year efforts to promote a philanthropic culture. A total of 654 individuals from our alumni and broader community have donated to the Scholarship Foundation over the past three years. The generosity of the IMD community’s Giving Day donations, together with the support of Fondation Saint Michel, provided an opportunity to enable talented leaders from all corners of the globe to embark on an IMD learning journey.
Providing scholarships
Not everyone who has the talent and tenacity to succeed at IMD has the financial means to attend. IMD has a history of offering scholarships via the IMD Scholarship Foundation, the institute’s tax-exempt entity for tuition assistance. Scholarships support exceptional candidates and ensure that financial barriers do not prevent them from reaching their leadership potential.
Scholarships are available for candidates who wish to pursue an MBA or EMBA. These scholarships are awarded to candidates who truly stand out as exceptional managers and leaders but don’t necessarily have the financial means to apply. Part of our scholarship strategy is to ensure geographical representation amongst our degree cohorts and, in 2024, 32% of our MBA participants have received a geographically based scholarship. In line with our commitment to increasing diversity in our programs, many of our scholarship opportunities require an equal split of male/female recipients, and some are only available to women.
The Jebsen Family Scholars Program for Non-profit Executives was established in 2023. The program aims to strengthen the social impact of NPOs by providing scholarship funding for their leaders to study at IMD. In 2025, a new scholarship recipient will be selected for the class of 2026.
The Driving Innovative Finance for Impact program, focused on blended finance and organizational readiness, was launched jointly with the International Committee of the Red Cross, the World Economic Forum, and the Lombard Odier Foundation and attracted 66 not-for-profit leaders who received subsidies to attend.
Moreover, we also offer NPOs and public-sector organizations subsidized access to our executive programs. In 2024, 29 NGO participants attended online and open enrolment programs on board governance, digital transformation, leadership, sustainability, and general management.
