Economist Intelligence Unit: Smeal No. 1 In Executive Education

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA (December 13, 2006) – The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the research division of The Economist magazine publisher, has named Penn State Executive Programs at the Smeal College of Business as the top provider in the world of customized executive education programs.

The EIU report also recognized Penn State Executive Programs with an award of excellence for its open-enrollment programs, making Smeal the only U.S. provider to be rated excellent in both categories.

Penn State Executive Programs received a score of 4.6 out of 5 on the EIU's customized executive education ranking, the highest score of any school on the customized or open-enrollment ranking. Smeal tied for fifth on the open-enrollment list, with a score of 4.1 out of 5.

Only three other schools in the world were rated excellent for both their open-enrollment and custom programs: Instituto de Empresa and IESE Business School in Spain and York University in Canada.

Pat Cataldo, associate dean for executive education at Smeal, said: "The recognition of Penn State on The Economist's list is proof that our custom and open-enrollment programs continue to deliver learning that influences change and produces better performance.

"Many companies today select programs as an investment in developing their current and future leaders," according to Cataldo. "This acknowledgement from our customers shows that real value is being delivered to their top talent."

Both the EIU's open-enrollment and custom rankings are based on surveys of executive education clients and information provided by the schools, such as amount of repeat business.

For the custom rankings, senior executives in charge of selecting executive education providers were asked to rate their custom providers on nine criteria:

•    ability to understand issues specific to your company
•    faculty quality
•    provider's amenities
•    level of post-course support for participants
•    ability to demonstrate impact back in the workplace
•    maintaining an ongoing relationship
•    cost/value for money
•    flexibility/ability to customize the program
•    wide range of expertise

For the open-enrollment ranking, the EIU surveyed 2,000 participants in executive education courses. They were asked to rate their experience on the following criteria:

•    content of the program
•    internationalism of the program
•    faculty quality
•    provider's amenities
•    quality of fellow participants
•    level of post-course support for participants
•    ability to demonstrate impact back in the workplace
•    maintaining an ongoing relationship
•    cost/value for money
•    wide range of courses

Last year, Penn State Executive Programs was tied for 10th among open-enrollment providers.

Penn State Executive Programs has been serving the development needs of the world's leading corporations since 1954, providing both open-enrollment and custom programs. Nearly 36,000 executives from 43 different nations have participated in programs on topics ranging from strategic leadership to supply chain management. For more information, visit www.smeal.psu.edu/psep.

The Economist Intelligence Unit, the business information arm of The Economist Group, publisher of The Economist, is the world's leading provider of country intelligence, with over 500,000 customers in corporations, banks, universities and government institutions. Its mission is to help companies do better business by providing timely, reliable and impartial analysis on market trends and business strategies.