{"id":147,"date":"2014-08-02T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-08-02T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.hult.edu\/en\/news\/news\/2014\/july\/merger-between-hult-and-ashridge\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T15:23:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T14:23:08","slug":"ashridge-and-hult-announce-plans-to-merge-financial-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/ashridge-and-hult-announce-plans-to-merge-financial-times\/","title":{"rendered":"Ashridge and Hult announce plans to merge [Financial Times]"},"content":{"rendered":"

Written by Della Bradshaw on the Financial Times “Ashridge and Hult International announce plans to merge<\/a>“<\/em><\/p>\n

In a move that could create one of the largest business schools in the world, Ashridge<\/a>, the UK executive education specialist, and Hult International Business School, the multi-campus business school, have announced a strategic alliance that is intended to lead to a full-blown merger.<\/p>\n

The announcement comes less than a day after Arizona State University announced that it had reached an agreement with Thunderbird, the US business school noted for its international business curriculum, for the latter to become part of ASU.<\/p>\n

The two deals are the latest in a series of business school mergers prompted by the cost of teaching quality education on a global basis while providing high levels of technology support and facing increased competition from a range of institutions including commercial companies. \u201cThe whole value chain is being disaggregated and rearranged,\u201d says Kai Peters, chief executive of Ashridge.<\/p>\n

Mergers have been particularly prominent where state support for higher education has been cut, such as in France.<\/p>\n

The deal between Ashridge and Hult will give the proposed joint entity a full service business school, with undergraduate, masters, MBA, EMBA and executive education teaching. Combined, the schools have close to 300 professors, more than 4,200 degree students and \u00a325m in executive education revenues.<\/p>\n

Prof Peters says the deal will answer the needs of the corporate world, giving companies a strong supply of undergraduate, masters and MBA graduates, high quality research and executive education teaching. The Hult family will support the alliance with \u00a350m investment, according to Stephen Hodges, president of Hult.<\/p>\n

The alliance will also address many of the problems faced by the two schools. For Ashridge, the cyclical nature of the executive education business \u2013 2008 to 2012 were particularly bad years \u2013 has resulted in no assured source of revenue. For Hult, the lack of business research and highly-qualified academic staff have meant it has been unable to seek accreditation from bodies such as AACSB and Equis, the accrediting bodies in the US and Europe \u2013 Ashridge holds both Equis and AACSB accreditation.<\/p>\n

Over the past few years both Hult and Ashridge have been in merger talks with other institutions. In particular, Hult was named as one of the potential partners for Thunderbird, which will now be integrated into ASU.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe walked away from Thunderbird because we felt integration would be too difficult,\u201d says Prof Hodges. Because both Ashridge and Hult are both stand alone business schools \u2013 they are not attached to a university \u2013 the two bosses are expecting the integration will be easier than if a university were involved.<\/p>\n

The proposed former alliance between Hult and Thunderbird was also more difficult because there was a high level of duplication in the programmes taught by the two schools, particularly the MBA. As Ashridge concentrates on more mature students and executive teaching coaching, there is little overlap with the younger students at Hult, says Prof Peters.<\/p>\n

Another jinx on Thunderbird\u2019s attempts to find a partner was the very vocal objections from a small group of alumni. Both Prof Hodges and Prof Peters say they have both received support from alumni and corporate partners as well as the board of the schools.<\/p>\n

This article was replicated from the Financial Times “Ashridge and Hult International announce plans to merge<\/a>” written by Della Bradshaw.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read more about the merger at “Ashridge and Hult Form Strategic Alliance<\/a>“.<\/em><\/p>\n

Step up your game with executive education at Ashridge agile business school. To find out more, take a look at our blog Practical Applications of a Hult Executive MBA<\/a>, or firm up your exec career footing with a Masters in International Business from Hult<\/a>. Download a brochure or get in touch today to find out how Hult can help you learn everything about the business world, the future, and yourself.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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