Aula Magna, the business school to train women executives

The Aula Magna business school, exclusively for professional women who wish to receive training for executives, will expand its educational scope this year and incorporate courses on data science, sustainability, and new economic models. The center's commitment responds to the educational demand "from a group, that of active professional women, who do not find their place in traditional business schools, as demonstrated by the fact that only 30% of their students are women," explains Clara Lapiedra, founder and director of Aula Magna Business School.

Ambassador for Stanford's Women in Data Science (WiDS) program in Barcelona and Madrid, Clara Lapiedra explains that "we must train from the current perspective of companies (innovation, digital transformation, project management, ethics, strategy), but also in skills required for women executives (negotiation, personal brand, persuasive communication or leadership)."

Lapiedra states that three out of four students who have gone through the business school have managed to advance professionally or change jobs six months after their graduation from the Executive Development Program. This master's degree is currently taught for Spain, and one has been created for the United States and another for Latin America, which will also be repeated this year. "We will also incorporate one in English with international reach," she adds.

For its internationalization, Aula Magna has collaborators from all over, among whom is the vice president of the Californian construction company Procore, Anna N Schlegel, who, from the United States, is the president of Aula Magna's advisory board.

In any of the current and future programs, "the teachers are always active professional women, from companies or entities; and this is also a feature that differentiates us," explains Lapiedra and argues that "a professor who has spent many years dedicated only to teaching cannot contribute the same as one who lives the day-to-day of the company."

Networking and collaboration among students

She considers the type of education provided important because ---according to her experience as an alumna of a couple of business schools--- the case study method "is not valid if one works with examples of outdated companies led solely and exclusively by men." The Executive Development Program (PDD) works with the case method, situations, and trajectories of globally recognized companies such as Coca-Cola, Zurich, Salesforce, Inditex, Google, or FC Barcelona. "It has been demonstrated in thousands of studies by different international institutions and organizations that companies that incorporate women into their boards of directors and into management and decision-making positions achieve better results," states Lapiedra.

The students who enroll in Aula Magna Business School's programs, from which fifty graduates have already emerged, value ---according to Lapiedra--- the networking and collaboration that arises among them. "Different commercial agreements have already emerged," mentions the school's director. "Women find in Aula Magna a program that they feel capable of following, as it adjusts to a workday, without homework, and promotes inclusive and quality education without biases," concludes Lapiedra.