This is more than semantics participants are treated with some care with meals, coffee, accommodations, recreation, etc. The MBA participants are given a high-quality lunch every day, and faculty are expected to join them. MBA Student Groups. While nearly every B-school in North American claims that group activities are a big part of the educational experience, my sense is that IMD does a much better job on this dimension. These study groups have assigned meetings three times per day.
Faculty often drop in on the study groups.
The MBAs work together on almost every case. By the end of the year, the students have had a chance to work with almost every other student. This is a fantastic cultural experience given that the students are from so many different countries. Many American buzz words are not yet popular in Europe and it is doubtful that they ever will be. Of course Europeans know the terms JIT and TQM, but many were less familiar with the concepts of benchmarking and business process re-engineering.