Sustainability Report 2021

IMD’s five core focus areas 36

IMD is steadily increasing gender diversity in its degree programs.

Hilti’s first MBA scholarship supports role models for women in engineering As a woman in the male-dominated field of engineering, Harita Byluppala is all too aware of the importance role models play in shaping the ambitions of the young. Now that she has been awarded the first Hilti Scholarship for Women, Byluppala is keen to use her platform to inspire younger girls interested in pursuing careers in engineering and construction. “As a female graduate, I know that if I go into the food industry, I can progress quite fast. There are also examples of successful women in the tech industry, but if I go into the construction industry, it becomes harder to see those examples of female success,” she said. Created to support IMD’s female MBAs on their journey into leadership roles within the construction industry, Hilti’s scholarship is aimed at nurturing talent and increasing female representation across the sector. Byluppala trained as a chemical engineer and her most recent role, as digital manufacturing consultant at Nestlé, involved projects focused on energy efficiency across production lines. Her decision to undertake an MBA program was driven by a growing awareness that engineering innovations were increasingly directing business solutions, innovations, and strategies. “I am committed to taking up a path that has not seen many women succeed within it and aim to normalize it. Women belong to the C-suite and that is what I am working towards,” she said.

35% of 2021 MBA class was composed of women, compared to 34% in 2020

35%

In 2021, 34% of EMBA participants graduating were female, compared with 29% in 2020 The 2022 MBA class will have the largest number of women in the program’s history, as well as the largest representation from Africa to date

34%

MOST WOMEN

79% of the women and 36% of the men attending the MBA in 2021 received a scholarship

79%

Virtual and online learning IMD accelerated its efforts to provide impactful learning journeys that could be accessed without the need to be present on a campus and, therefore, widen access to participants frommore diverse locations and organizational heirarchies. Fuelled by its pivot to more technology-mediated learning, IMD offered more asynchronous cloud and online experiences, as well as synchronous “liVe” programs, across a broader range of topics. For example, in 2021, IMD launched eight new asynchronous online programs and five “native” liVE synchronous learning journeys. The adoption of virtual reality technology in new programs such as Teams Reimagined also opened up the possibility to deliver dynamic and effective leadership development experiences to dispersed audiences.

Harita Byluppala