Different institutions give senior HR managers a valuable insight into strategic HR management, for example, while others focus on helping professionals who consider themselves more entrepreneurial.
"Fortunately, the new generation of HR specialists in the UK and around the world is pushing itself forward, but it still has ground to cover and business schools can help ambitious practitioners cover it as quickly as possible," says Charles-Henri Besseyre-des-Horts, professor at the HEC Paris business school. HEC provides an Executive Masters in Strategic HR Management that is designed for senior HR professionals with more than 15 years' experience.
At EM-Lyon business school, also in France, Pascale Berthier was an HR specialist for 10 years and realised he needed to take an MBA if he was to fulfil the role of business ‘partner' effectively. He is teaching on the executive and international MBA programmes. "The context of HR is changing all the time - we now regularly see operational managers and directors handling traditional HR matters and HR professionals involved in operational and commercial work - so the impetus to ‘broaden out' is getting more and more acute," he says.
"As a school that focuses heavily on entrepreneurship through our international MBA and Global Entrepreneurship programmes we'd argue that HR specialists would benefit from learning the skills of the ‘intrapreneur'. This is the type of individual that ‘makes things happen' in large corporations."
Camila de Wit, a director at ESADE business school in Spain, says it is becoming increasingly common for graduates of the school's MBA programme to move on from pure HR work when they leave. In 2007 more than 70% took on more general management roles than they had held before.
"We are also seeing more HR managers taking the Programme for Leadership Development which we run in conjunction with St Gallen University in Switzerland," says de Wit. "This programme is designed for executives and those with high potential who want to complement their previous training and it is an obvious choice for the HR professional who wants to move on."
What can international business schools offer HR practitioners?
Deciding which international business school best suits the ongoing training needs of an individual HR practitioner takes a considerable amount of research.
