In 2003, Bertil Hult, the billionaire founder of the language travel program Education First, bought Hult. He transformed the financially struggling company into a well-oiled machine. Based in San Francisco, Boston, Shanghai, London and Dubai, Hult has become one of the biggest American business schools and is rising in the rankings.
The San Francisco campus is home to 800 students. The staff offices' glass doors stay open and the classrooms are right next door. Hult also owns a dorm across the bay in Oakland where rent is less expensive.
The Bachelor's Business
Unlike most U.S. business schools, Hult has specialized in BAs. Local recruiters in countries like India, China and Brazil look for candidates among recent high school graduates. Also unique is the fact that Hult MBA students can switch countries every semester, up to three times.
The school is not overly selective, admitting two-thirds of Bachelor's applicants, but Hult knows how to keep its students. Boasting an undergraduate retention rate of 93%, the school far surpasses the 50% U.S. average.
Eyes on the Enterprise
Hult has focused on foreigners looking to study in the U.S., a growing population. These students have specific needs and expectations, especially regarding their first job out of school. Graduate Dean Manpreet Dhillon explains, "95% of the San Francisco student body is foreign. They represent 120 different nationalities. My job really consists in helping students obtain visas so they can find jobs in the U.S. after graduation."
Stronger Together
Hult is confident in its business model and intends to expand. There are plans to double the number of undergraduates in San Francisco and Boston with new campuses.
In October 2015, Hult added to its family Ashbridge, an English business school specialized in continuing education that had fallen on hard times. Thanks to the merger, Hult landed Ashbridge's 6,000 corporate clients, 60 professors and research activities, an area that Hult developed very little. Together, the schools count 400 professors and nearly 3,000 students, figures that attest to Hult's growing importance.
