International: HEC Montréal signs two agreements in West Africa

February 29, 2016

HEC Montréal continues to expand its international presence, this time by signing two agreements in February in West Africa: one with the CESAG and the other with the Banque centrale des états de l’Afrique de l’Ouest (BCEAO).

Strong bonds between the School and the CESAG

HEC Montréal first of all inked an agreement with the CESAG, a regional institution created in 1985 that specializes in management training, consulting and research. In fact, the partnership between HEC Montréal and the CESAG goes all the way back to its founding, through train-the-trainer activities. Starting in September 2016, the School will be offering the BBA 2+2 and MBA Essentials programs there.

The BBA 2+2 program lets students from countries in the Union économique et monétaire ouest-africaine (UEMOA) do their first two years of studies in Dakar, where they will benefit from HEC Montréal’s teaching approach, and the other two in Montreal. Upon completing the entire program they will receive a double diploma from the two institutions.

MBA Essentials, for its part, is a 26-day qualifying program offered jointly to managers and executives over a roughly one-year period, in Senegal and elsewhere in West Africa. “It is one of the leading programs of the École des dirigeants HEC Montréal, and has proved highly successful over the past several years in Quebec and elsewhere around the world,” says Hassan Taghvaï, Director of International Executive Education at the École des dirigeants. 

Continuing education and more with the BCEAO

The second agreement was with the BCEAO, whose mission is to define and implement UEMOA monetary policy, ensure the stability of its banking and financial system, promote smooth operations and ensure the proper oversight and security of its payment systems.

Under this agreement, HEC Montréal and the BCEAO will develop synergies with a view to jointly creating continuing education programs; they will collaborate on writing case studies adapted to the West African banking and financial sector, and exchange resource people through lectures, symposia, meetings and seminars.

“HEC Montréal is pleased to sign this agreement, in line with its work with such multilateral organizations as the African Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the Caribbean Development Bank,” concluded Mr. Taghvaï.

Front: Moussa Yazi, Department Head and Director of Training, CESAG BF-CCA; Hassan Taghvaï, Director of International Executive Education at the École des dirigeants, HEC Montréal; HEC Montréal Director Michel Patry; Boubacar Baïdari, CESAG Executive Director; Justine A. Tano Beugre, CESAG Secretary General. Back: students in the CESAG Grande école program. Photo: CESAG.

Hassan Taghvaï, Director of International Executive Education at the École des dirigeants HEC Montréal; Abdoulaye Traore, Advisor to the Executive Director of human resources, training and legal affairs, BCEAO; Sylviane Akouélé Mensah, Executive Director of human resources, training and legal affairs, BCEAO; HEC Montréal Director Michel Patry; Aminata Haidara, Director of the Centre ouest-africain de formation et d’études bancaires (COFEB); Fernand Aboutou, Assistant to the Director, COFEB; Djoulassi K. Oloufade, Head of the Department of external training activities, COFEB, BCEAO. Photo: BCEAO.