The Exec-Ed Zone

The FT reports that some of the US public business schools are feeling quite perky in relation to their normally much better-off private counterparts.

On the weekend that Harvard University has announced a fall in its endowment fund of $11bn - and with that a substantial fall in income, Haas Business School at Berkley on the other side of the US is quoted as "never have been as strong as we are now".

This unusual position is due to the reliance that the private insitutions have been able to make on their endowments while the public schools have not had that luxury - but with many endowed portfolios having pursued high-return (and therefore high risk) strategies in recent years they are finding that their property and oil and gas led holdings are now not producing the returns they expected - in fact quite the reverse.

It would appear that the mistakes of the financial markets, that many believe were fostered and encouraged by the Business Schools - particularly the Harvards and Stanfords of the sector, are now catching-up with those insitutions themselves. There may be a little schadenfreude in seeing that they at least did practice what they preached.