The UPF Barcelona School of Management (UPF-BSM) and CaixaBank were finalists in the «Best Business School Partnership» category of the AMBA & BGA Excellence Awards for their case study on the Risk School of the financial institution. The distinction, which was announced this Friday at a gala event in London attended by representatives of the finalist business schools, students, graduates, suppliers, and employers, went to Rotterdam School of Management - Erasmus University (The Netherlands) and Dutch Brazilian Chamber of Commerce partnership, recognising its “proactive and innovative approach”.
The Director General of the UPF-BSM, José M. Martínez-Sierra, is "honoured" to be a finalist for this award "alongside such renowned institutions" and thanks CaixaBank, “with whom we have collaborated by providing internal training to their teams for more than 15 years” “More than 25,000 professionals of the financial institution have passed through the UPF-BSM classrooms, thanks to which we have forged a relationship of trust. As finalist in the AMBA & BGA Excellence Awards, we are also one of the best training projects both in Spain and internationally”, he said.
The Director General of UPF-BSM is "honoured" to be a finalist with reputable institutions such as AESE Business School, Dongwu Business School, POLIMI Graduate School of Management, and the Telfer School of Management
“We also send our thanks to our InCompany training teams, who lead the project with CaixaBank, as well as many other educational projects with multinationals and companies of recognised prestige, and who are fundamental to our reputation as a doubly-accredited School of Management”, the Director General concluded.
According to David López, Director of Human Resources at CaixaBank, “the collaboration between our entity and the UPF-BSM to create the School of Risks, which today adds a new international recognition, shows that both organisations share a commitment to rigour and depth in the contents of training, as well as a commitment to innovation and the development of new formats and educational tools”. “We believe that this shared vision is fundamental to the successes we have achieved and encourages us to continue working to apply excellence in the training of our employees”, he added.
AMBA, the International Association of Masters in Business Administration, is one of the three major accrediting bodies in the Higher Education sector worldwide, in addition to EQUIS and AACSB. In fact, one of the criteria for eligibility for the awards was to have the accreditation by the entity, and the UPF-BSM has it since January 2021. It has also been accredited by EQUIS since April of this year.
CaixaBank launched the Risk School in 2015 with the aim of training the entire workforce in risk issues based on academic material provided by the UPF Barcelona School of Management
For these distinctions, the jury was made up of up to 31 international experts who, in the case of the «Best Business School Partnership» category, assessed that the collaborations presented offered a “clear narrative” that showed why the strategy had been implemented, as well as the impact caused; evidence that the partnership “is based on a firm strategic link” with the business school and that it “supports its values and objectives”; a summary demonstrating that the partnership strategy “links to the objectives of both entities beyond a simple placement of students in jobs”; and finally, evidence of the success of the partnership “based on metrics, anecdotes and case studies showing how the position of both partners has been strengthened”.
Alongside with the UPF-BSM and CaixaBank, other finalists collaborations were: AESE Business School (Portugal) with PwC Portugal; Dongwu Business School – Soochow University (China) with Soochow Securities; POLMI Graduate School of Management (Italy) with The Mind at Work; and Telfer School of Management – University of Ottawa (Canada) with Kinaxis.
The case study, which shows the pioneering initiative with which CaixaBank promoted the Risk School in 2015, the vehicle through which it intended to train its entire workforce in risk matters, was recognised by EFMD in 2021 with the «Excellence in Practice Silver Awards». At the time, the award was an international distinction of excellence in R&D for both entities, as well as legitimacy, positioning and broad visibility and brand value.
In 2021, the alliance between UPF-BSM and CaixaBank won the EFMD's «Excellence in Practice Silver Awards», an international distinction that provides legitimacy, positioning and visibility
“For more than 15 years we have been working together with CaixaBank to design innovative training programmes that combine theoretical knowledge and practical experience, so that professionals can excel in the development of their activity”, explained Eva Revilla, Director of InCompany Programs at UPF-BSM. These are projects with high added value that, according to Revilla, “are possible thanks to a relationship of collaboration and trust between the company and the university that goes far beyond the classic dynamic between client and supplier”.
As stated by its promoters, the Risk School “anticipated” European regulatory requirements on staff knowledge and competencies where rigorous and responsible lending was becoming increasingly important. In this way, the collaboration “has proved to be a key tool to keep professionals properly trained, to promote the culture of risk management and to contribute effectively to the daily challenges faced by the institution’s management”, said representatives of the school and the financial institution.