MIT Sloan School of Management launches new strategic collaboration with QUT Business School

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., October 8, 2019 – The MIT Sloan School of Management announced a five-year agreement with QUT Business School, a strategic collaboration with a focus onacademic exchange, an innovative immersion program for QUT MBA and EMBA students, and enhancing QUT’s entrepreneurship program with access to MIT’s global entrepreneurial networks. A signing of the agreement was held yesterday on the MIT Sloan campus.This is MIT Sloan’s first collaboration with a university in Australia, reflecting the increasing importance of the Pacific Rim to the global economy. QUT Business School holds triple crown accreditation, which is held by only one percent of business schools worldwide.

“We are delighted to be expanding our outreach in the Pacific Rim, one of the world’s vital economic regions,” says David Schmittlein, the John C Head III Dean of MIT Sloan. “MIT’s motto is ‘Mens et Manus’—‘mind and hand’—while QUT identifies itself as a university for the real world, which speaks to an alignment of our values and mission statements. We share a commitment to exceptional research and developing principled, innovative leaders who improve the world.”

“This collaboration will enable us to pursue areas of mutual interest and benefit to our respective schools,” says Robina Xavier, Executive Dean of QUT Business School. “QUT looks forward to bringing MIT Sloan to Australia to help foster leadership in the local innovation ecosystem, engaging our faculty and energizing our students for impact in our communities nationally and internationally.”

Starting in the summer of 2020, up to sixty QUT MBA and EMBA students will take part in an innovative two week program, immersed in the MIT ecosystems for entrepreneurship and the leadership of digital transformation, facilitated by the Institute’s top-ranked faculty. QUT Business School students who, upon completion of MIT Sloan’s curriculum requirements and QUT Business School’s graduation requirements, will be included in and have access to the MIT Sloan Affiliate Network.

QUT Business School faculty will visit MIT Sloan, with two per year spending a semester on the Cambridge, Massachusetts campus as International Faculty Fellows (IFFs). They will work closely with MIT Sloan faculty on teaching, curriculum development, and research.

This collaboration builds on established connections made with the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship over the past three years when QUT Business School hosted the internationally recognized MIT Innovation and Entrepreneurship Bootcamp. The Trust Center and QUT Entrepreneurship will build on these existing bonds with a focus on accelerating the entrepreneurship program design at QUT. This will be accomplished through staff and student visits to share best practices and co-create content with the goal of developing programs utilizing a disciplined entrepreneurship framework to address entrepreneurial challenges in Queensland and Australia.

The MIT Sloan-QUT Business School agreement is, in part, a result of existing cooperation between the two business schools through the Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program (REAP), an MIT Sloan program that provides opportunities for communities around the world to engage with MIT in an evidence-based, practical approach to strengthening innovation-driven entrepreneurial ecosystems. QUT Business School is a REAP team leader and served as host in Brisbane for one of the four sessions that make up the two-year program.

About the MIT Sloan School of Management

The MIT Sloan School of Management is where smart, independent leaders come together to solve problems, create new organizations, and improve the world. Learn more at mitsloan.mit.edu.

About QUT Business School

QUT Business School offers world class business courses for real world success and is in a group of less than 1% of business schools globally to be accredited by all three of the world's leading accreditation bodies. Learn more at www.qut.edu.au/business.