Greetings to all,

I wonder if any of you has had an MBA from either Vlerick or Solvay. I am a new student and I have not made up my mind yet on joining either of them. I would appreciate it if you let me know about your impressions, experiences or recommendations.

Regards,

Abeer

"I am a new student and I have not made up my mind yet on joining either of them."

what do you mean by that - are you an undergrad student?

MBA Solvay without a doubt: http://www.solvay.edu/mba. I graduated in 2008 and it was the most challenging and intense year of my life.
MBA Solvay also has a blog where you can find more about the alumni, teachers, staff, etc: http://www.blogs-solvay.be/mba/

Not biased at all then ;-) at least proactive alumni are a good sign for any school...

Solvay to be fair is not well known (yet?) and is rarely considered 1st or 2nd tier in Europe. The EMBA has a little more recognition. Vlerick though has a better package and are firmly 2nd tier and outside of the top three (IMD, INSEAD, LBS) they have a fair chance of competing with the best of the rest in Europe.

Personally I would recommend Vlerick.

I agree with Jamie: Vlerick.

Hi there,

Solvay and the French community of Beligum has very close links with Vietnam. Our Prime Minister went to the school a while back and now they have MBA/EMBA running in Vietnam. From my experience, the whole program is very decent, senior managers/executives with years of experience, the teaching is very decent.

However, there were translators in the class and assignments could be completed in VIetnamese. That does not sound like a proper international MBA.

I know a couple of people attending the program in Belgium and their experience was very positive.

Vlerick, on the other hand, is still the upper-hand. If you read the website closely you can tell they are more organised in admission, teaching, facility etc. The better support from the government, the ranking etc.

The deans have been all from INSEAD top executives so they bring with them the expertise from the best EU business school

The MBA in Vietnam is not the same as the one in Belgium.

MBA Solvay in Belgium is taught 100% in English. Full time class is 80% international and the part time is 54% (you need to be working to do the part time). Most of the professors are international too and come from other schools.

MBA Solvay ranks 72 , 9th in career progression and 7th in international students (FT EMBA ranking 2008), plus the business school ranks very good in general and the masters. It is without a doubt a top school, and so is the only other real option in Belgium.

The focus of MBA Solvay is on quality, and you get an extremely good value for money. They prefer to have less students with higher quality (intake is about 60 people per year for full and part time) The courses are small, ranging from 7 to 40 students and it is very personalised.

80% of my class had a real job in the next 3 months after graduation (no internships) and some got their contracts before graduation. My first job offer came while I was still in the MBA.

One of the great things is the coaching you get to develop your soft skills and those related to your career with the Career Advancement Program (everything related to job finding and moving up in your career, from knowing better what you want to do, to plan and execute your next moves).

As far as I know Vlerick is younger, much less international and has a dual Dutch/English MBA, but I am sure some of their alumni can explain this better.

I am indeed byased by the great experience I had in MBA Solvay :-) And so are all my colleagues. I know Vlerick is also a great school, but my research lead me to take up the challenge at Solvay really quick (based on the points I have explained here).

The more important thing for me is to speak with alumni. When you have schools that are accredited and ranked, the more important information you are going to get from the alumni. Contact the administration of both MBA and ask them to get you in touch with an alumnus. You will get a much better picture.

I definitely agree that to contact alumni is very important and it proved to be tremendously useful for me.

How old is Solvay anyways?

I said i knew people from both the mba in Vietnam/Belgium. Of course they are different, but at the end they do get the same accereditted MBA certificate.

The ranking from FT of Solvay is good. But Vlerick fair better in the same ranking and appears in Master management/ full-time MBA/ European Business school. Solvay does not feature in any of these

In economist ranking Vlerick is ranked in the top 25 for few years. Solvay never climbed any nearby.

Ranking is only ranking. Can you point out any singe factor that Solvay is a BETTER

Solvay was founded in 1903, and the MBA in 1991. It is the first business school in Belgium.

The Brussels business network is another advantage to add to my previous post. More than 100 years educating the elite of the country help build a very good network and reputation. I was amazed to see how well people reacted and how they opened up for business discussions as soon as they heard that I was doing my MBA at Solvay. There are 18000 alumni spread all over the world: http://www.sbsalumni.be. These are alumni from both the MBA and from the business school.

Some more ranking related information:

For Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management (Solvay Business School until last year):

* 22nd Business School in Europe, European Business Schools, FT 2008
* 1st in Belgium, 13th in Europe, Master in Management, FT 2008

For the University (Free University of Brussels ULB)
* 15th in Europe, Times Higher Education
* 3 Nobel prices.

Hi MBASolvay,

This is good, and no one questioned that Solvay is a good institution in Belgium. the question from the previous post and in the thread in general was whether Vlerick or Solvay was better.

The info you have provided point to Solvay being a reputable university and probably an excellent place to get a BA or an MA, but is maybe not on the same level as Vlerick for a full-time MBA.

And as I said before, and you pointed out again, Solvay is better recognised for the EMBA, but incidentally still ranking slightly below Vlerick in the FT (since you mentioned the ranking).

But if you go beyond the rankings you will see that it is much better, both for the full and the part time, which are exactly the same MBA :-)

MBA Solvay does not appear many years in the rankings because the small size of its classes: you need 30 people graduating to participate in the survey of the Financial Times.

The courses with less people is another key asset that helped me decide for Solvay, and discard others like Insead.

But as I said, the best is to get information directly from other candidates and alumni. If you do not want to go through the administration, you can find both in their candidates page in facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/MBA-Solvay-Candidates/134943690330?ref=ts
But the best is to meet them face to face :-)

Cheers and good weekend everyone

Hi there,

Vlerick Leuven Ghent Business school is much older.
Its father university: Katholieke Universiteit Leuven was founded on 9 December 1425. Ghen University was opened on 9 October 1817. Katholieke Universiteit Leuven offered MBA in 1968. You said Solvay offered first MBA in Belgium, are you sure this correct?

Except from the old- factor which you can debate with me because history of Vlerick is complicated.

In the ranking, Vlerick is always better.

Economists MBA ranking: Vlerick top 25 in the world for a few years, Solvay not ranked.

Financial Times ranking:
MBA: Vlerick 75th in the world, Solvay not ranked
EMBA: Vlerick 61 in the world better than Solvay 72
Executive education-customised: Vlerick 41 in the world. Solvay not ranked.
Executive education-open: Vlerick 37 in the world. Solvay not ranked.
European business school: Velrick 10 in Europe, Solvay 22

Also in the University ranking of Times Higher Education,
Leuven University ranking in
2006 : 96 in the world
2007: 61 in the world
2008: 72 in the world

Ghent University ranking in
2006 : 141 in the world
2007: 124 in the world
2008: 136 in the world

ULB is behind both Ghent/Leuven in the last 3 years
2006 : 165 in the world
2007: 154 in the world
2008: 183 in the world

There are of course ranking that Solvay can fair better for example Maters in Management: Solvay 13 Vlerick 27 in Europe. But Vlerick is better ranked in general

About Alumni, Vlerick can boast the alumni of Ghent and KLU thus they will have a lot more alumni, KLU was founded in 15th century anyways. KLU/Ghent also have few people become Prime Minister of Belgium and among them also won Nobel Prizes.

Statistically, Vlerick wins Solvay

Impressive list donho199, thanks for compiling it.

Do you work for Vlerick or are you an alumnus? It would be great to know more about your insider experience in the MBA :-)

You missunderstood my message: Solvay is the pioneer BUSINESS SCHOOL that was created in Belgium, not university (it is part of the ULB). It was founded in 1903 by Ernest Solvay, the Belgian Business man that created the chemical farmaceutical multinational Solvay. More than a hundred years teaching business! ... and creating a network of alumni.

The reason why MBA Solvay is not in the rankings every year is because of the number of students (need to have 30 graduating to be in the survey). If you want smaller classes and a more personal relationship with professors it is great.

You have to go beyond the statistics and see which program fits you best. A career is a multidimensional problem. If you only care about the rankings you are missing most of the bigger picture.

There are some alumni testimonials being published in the blog of the mba. Check them out to learn why some people have decided to do an MBA and why they have decided to do it at Solvay: http://www.blogs-solvay.be/mba/

Cheers

By the way, I guess most of the 15 century alumni must be dead by now ;-)

By the way, I guess most of the 15 century alumni must be dead by now ;-)

In fact, everytime people loose by statistics, they switch to non-quantifiable elements, making false statement based on nothing and claiming themselves better or best. This is simply wrong or stupid or arrogant or childlish.

Solvay, you get it wrong even on the smaller picture, what do you know about bigger picture?

You dont even have enough people applying to make a class size of 30. Who want to go to French speaking country? Who want to go to Solvay?

The "business school" title is nothing pioneer, you can call the business faculty what ever you want. it is the name, what is important is what does it carry with it?

Solvay is a great man but so is Vlerick.I can name my business school after whoever I can, Obama or Bill Gates would be happy for me to do so. Normally you need to pay to get the school after your name, now you have somebody come to you asking for a favour if they can use your name. Oh Solvay i hope you are worthy more than that.

And yes,even when you count dead alumni we have more than you. What is the point you want to make?

Certainly Solvay MBA does not teach people to think rationally, they was however able to make them feel very very confident.

I need to make my choice for next year and was just looking for some more informations when i ended up on this forum.

1st of: Ernest Solvay was the first person who implemented the engineering aspect to the economic studies in order to be able to educate people who have a solid base of knowledge and understand every aspect of the market, the companies and the product itself. (the best profile for any high placed position in a business)

2end : the small classes are a great strength and very normal seen the fact that you only want the best ones, and not the mass.

3th : most people only go for 1 type of studies, someone interested in becoming a manager or entrepreneur doesn't care how good the law-studies are considered at his college

4th : solvay doesn't get much support on forums, probably because of the small classes. I personally think that the graduates probably have better things to do than write blogs, making money for instance.

5th : isn't it (in your own words) "wrong or stupid or arrogant or child(no L here!!!)ish " to look down on one of the most important and most spoken languages in the world? the type of languages you need when going international.

I usually don't post things on forums, but this Irrational comment really needed a response.

ultimately I'd like to inform you of neutral position, given the facts that:
- I haven't made a choice yet
- My family network consists of solvay and vlerick graduates and professors
- I am open to any USEFUL information considering study-choices

if you have anything else to do than just criticizing and getting reproved by an 18-year old, please do everyone a favor by keeping your frustrated remarks to yourself.

My personal choice was Vlerick (but circumstances were different)

I am now in China, following the FT Vlerick / BiMBA program (in cooperation with Peking University, the most famous Chinese university), my diploma will be granted by Vlerick.

I went to grad school at ULB and my 1st (failed) undergrad year at Solvay Business School. I keep the memory of it being a very good school. The 2 things I would keep 'against' Solvay (although I have not followed their recent developments closely)
- the whole university, ULB, is not doing too well academically speaking these last years, Solvay has a lot of autonomy but the general university seems to be going down (from friends who work there)
- no international visibility in rankings, I don t know for Europe (I have been in China 8 years) but here, nobody has heard of it

I insist a lot on visibility, for reasons specific to my situation: Chinese and Asians in general are VERY sensitive to reputation, international rankings, etc.

Regarding my program:
Until 2 years ago, PKU was cooperating with Fordham University, the integration with Vlerick is still undergoing.
The advantages I got:
- teachers coming from all over the world (PKU, Fordham, ESADE, Vlerick, Columbia, ...)
- it is a prestigious institution for China: it was founded by Lin Yifu (head economist of the IMF), when Geithner, Clinton or George Soros stop in China for an academic visit, they do it at BiMBA
- small class 60 for FT (+/- 45 Chinese - 15 foreigners)
- classes are organized in a beautiful palatial courtyard (it s maybe a detail but this beauty tends to put a smile on your face)
- a lot cheaper than FT Vlerick Belgium (1/3)
- I cannot compare for entrance requirements, I only applied to BiMBA
- considering the high-speed level rise of the quality of Chinese students along the years, I expect the courses to get much more comprehensive in the following years (if you like quant and finance, you will easily make a lot of friends ;-)
- great potential network of contacts

- I have felt that Vlerick is a very dynamic school with great ambitions, I am sure their ranking and visibility will improve in the next years
- Some Vlerick teachers I had were excellent
- Vlerick students came to China during their courses. We had the chance to meet them, it was a very international group and they seemed highly satisfied with Vlerick Belgium

I am pretty sure Vlerick is going to get 1st-level recognition within other European MBAs in the next years.

And if you look for a different experience, maybe give a thought to Vlerick China.

Although I have two big warnings:
1/ the cultural difference.
I have been in China 8 years and I would venture to say that some my foreign classmates who came to China for this course went through cultural shocks and big shifts in their expectations
It s an English-speaking MBA based on Western practices of course, but the cultural environment is still largely Chinese.

2/ if you want to stay in China afterwards, it will be difficult.
You will need an excellent Chinese and expats are having a much more difficult time anyway. More and more Chinese have now the necessary skills for top positions in international companies. They already master the language, the culture and their salaries expectations are much lower than for expats.

As for me, I m heading back home to Belgium in 2 months with 8y Chinese experience under the belt, and a MBA from a Top 10 world school of my home country to look for a job.

As a current MBA Part Time 2 student in Solvay let me add a little bit to this thread because it looks like it gets cached and has a pretty high ranking in google.

For Myself, I would go beyond statistics and the history of the two schools and tell you a bit you need to know about this issue from an outsider's point of view. I came here as an American transfered to an office we have here in Belgium. What came as a very big surprise is the division in the country between the French/Dutch speaking communities. You will see a lot of bias and a lot of arguing for each side of the equation based solely on Dutch/French speakers.
I would say that unless you are a Belgian national (in which case you would have already chosen one of the two), take a look more at the program that is offered. Take a look at the curriculum, take a look at the professors and talk to alumni or current students.

Vlerick is in Ghent/Lueven.... If you also work and are doing the program Part Time like I am, good luck getting there in the evenings. Truthfully this was the deciding factor for me. I work in Brussels, I live in Brussels and my school is in Brussels. Going to Leuven (quite close, about 30 min drive normally, without traffic) or to Ghent in the evenings for us part timers will be a pain.

I did my undergrad studies in Atlanta. My university went from 12k students to over 21k students in a period of 5 years. This was due to the boom in population of Atlanta, but I would say that Solvay is much better positioned for the future than Vlerick is.

Lastly, I would say that Solvay has a few key people that really make this program what it is. Talk to a student or an alumni and ask about the LTC Pillar of the MBA Solvay. For personal growth and development, for learning a lot more about yourself, this is IT!!!!

Good luck
EM

small edit: I probably learned more about myself and working in teams, as well as my interactions in my personal life in this 1st year of the MBA than I did in the previous 10 years in my career. It would have taken me another 10 to learn what I did so far.