UW-Madison business school welcomes international real estate students

Thirteen students from around the world have converged at the University of Wisconsin–Madison to be part of a one-of-a-kind experience as the inaugural class of the Wisconsin Real Estate Program’s Global Real Estate Master’s program (GREM).

To provide a real estate education that transcends borders, the GREM program partners the specific real estate expertise at the Wisconsin School of Business with three of the best business schools in the world: Europe’s HEC Paris, Latin America’s INCAE Business School and Asia’s Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

The students have been studying at the partner school of their choice, learning about economics, finance and business. Now, they will complete their educations at the Wisconsin School of Business with a semester focused entirely on real estate.

“We aim for global leadership in real estate education because the world needs competent, passionate and socially responsible real estate professionals,” says Professor François Ortalo-Magné, chair of the real estate department and director of GREM. “We are delighted the GREM partnership gives us access to the best business students from Asia, Europe and Latin America. Bringing these students to the Wisconsin School of Business will be beneficial not only for them but also for our current students with whom they will interact in classes and club activities.”

During this inaugural week, GREM students will get their first taste of Wisconsin — and its weather — as well as the university’s real estate education tradition. They started with an intensive four-day course on the real estate process, which provided them with an overview of the areas they will cover throughout the semester.

They have also spent time settling in to their office space on the third floor of Grainger Hall and preparing for study trips to Chicago and New York City later in the semester.

“As far as I know, there is no program like GREM anywhere else in the world,” says Ortalo-Magné. “We look forward to learning together on how to build on its innovative nature to make it a true global success.”

Ortalo-Magné and Gilles Bousquet, dean of the Division of International Studies and vice provost for globalization, accompanied UW–Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin on her most recent trip to China, where the UW–Madison group met with officials from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

“The GREM partnership ties in with our strategic relationships across continents,” Bousquet says. “This new program both engages students from around the world and also builds on UW–Madison’s unique strength in a field that is of growing international importance.”

There are two students from HEC Paris, four from INCAE and seven from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.