"The first Fellowship in real estate to be established within an international business school"
Cushman & Wakefield, global real estate services firm and INSEAD, the leading international business school, have today announced the creation of the Cushman & Wakefield Fellowship in Real Estate. Funded exclusively by Cushman & Wakefield, it will be the first dedicated real estate Fellowship within a leading international business school and represents a significant breakthrough in the way in which the role of real estate will be understood, taught and perceived in Europe and elsewhere. The Cushman & Wakefield Fellowship will be launched in Autumn 2008 and INSEAD is currently recruiting a professor to drive and develop teaching and research on real estate. The new Fellow will be a catalyst for a range of real estate-related courses, studies and events and will be able to collaborate with academics across disciplines within INSEAD.
Cushman & Wakefield and INSEAD have worked closely over the past three years with a view to meeting the increased demand from MBA participants to cover the real estate sector. In 2005, INSEAD launched a new MBA elective, “Real Estate Finance & Strategy” which was sponsored and jointly designed by Cushman & Wakefield and Professor John Glascock, the Grosvenor professor of Real Estate at University of Cambridge. John Glascock taught the course which was the first elective in real estate offered by an international business school.
The INSEAD MBA Real Estate elective proved extremely popular with participants with demand for the course growing steadily over the last 18 months. In addition, the INSEAD Real Estate MBA Club is active in bringing in industry speakers and connecting with alumni in the sector.
On receiving the news on the Fellowship, the co-managers of the INSEAD Real Estate Club, Jean-Baptiste Germain and Arnaud Cacoub MBA '07J, said: "The Fellowship will be a milestone in raising awareness of the subject on campus. To have a faculty champion of real estate will invariably increase the scope and depth of learning in this area. It will provide the academic support to our activities and to the INSEAD Real Estate Club."
It is intended that the Fellowship will build and expand on the success of the real estate elective. The introduction of a permanent faculty dedicated to teaching and research on real estate is a major breakthrough for the school. Antonio Fatas, Dean of the INSEAD MBA Programme, said: “There is a growing demand from our students for knowledge on real estate finance and indeed on the whole industry. The importance of real estate in today's investment market makes it a very relevant component in our MBA programme. As the sector turns increasingly international, it becomes particularly attractive to INSEAD’s multinational student body. The Cushman and Wakefield Fellowship is exciting news for our students and faculty.”
“Our funding of this Fellowship is aligned with our long term commitment to move real estate higher up the corporate agenda,” said Paul Bacon, CEO of Cushman & Wakefield EMEA. “Real estate accounts for 55% of the world’s assets and is a large component of the global investment market. “By establishing a core centre of excellence for real estate within INSEAD we can reach top executives and managers from around the world, enabling them to think more strategically about this asset class and to help them explore the critical role it plays within the corporate infrastructure.”
About Cushman & Wakefield
Cushman & Wakefield is the world’s largest privately held real estate services firm. Founded in 1917, Cushman & Wakefield has 201 offices in 57 countries around the globe, and more than 12,000 talented professionals. The firm delivers integrated solutions by actively advising, implementing and managing on behalf of landlords, tenants, and investors through every stage of the real estate process. These solutions include helping clients to buy, sell, finance, lease, and manage assets. C&W also provides valuation advice, strategic planning and research, portfolio analysis, and site selection and space location assistance, among many other advisory services. To find out more about Cushman & Wakefield, see www.cushmanwakefield.com
