The new facilities of the French-Geneva Centre of Thunderbird, The American Graduate School of International Management, located in Archamps, France, just over the border from Geneva city and 15 minutes from Geneva International Airport have been opened to more than double the size of the centre.

Set in a 17th-century farmhouse on the Site d'Archamps international business park, the continued growth of Thunderbird's full-time degree program and executive education offerings means that the current facilities were stretched to capacity.

The new building of Thunderbird will accommodate the need for additional classroom space. The purpose-built centre of 1,400 square meters will house both full-time students and executive education participants. The new building will consist of four auditoriums and four classrooms, along with twelve breakout rooms and full audio-visual, computer, and Internet facilities.

According to Dr. Yahia Zoubir, director of the Thunderbird Europe campus, ''Thunderbird Europe offers a top-quality international education in the heart of Europe. The location, the faculty, as well as its modern facilities provide all the ingredients of a competitive graduate business and executive education.''

In conjunction with the new building, the Site d'Archamps has approved construction of a three-star hotel to service the executive education clientele. The 90-room property will include a full-service restaurant. The hotel is scheduled for opening in the second half of 2002. The Site will also be adding a conference centre in 2003.

Thunderbird President, Dr. Roy A. Herberger, Jr., says the strategy behind the expansion is one of maintaining leadership. ''As the leader in global business education for over fifty years, we have long believed in having a presence worldwide. Currently we offer degree and executive education classes in over a dozen countries. The Thunderbird Europe campus has been established since 1993, and this expansion will allow us to provide even more services to our customers in the region and around the world,'' said Herberger.

Thunderbird is one of the world's leading graduate business schools, having been recognised by the U.S. News & World Report as the #1 school for international business during each of the last six years and earning the same ranking earlier this year in the Wall Street Journal's first-ever evaluation of graduate business programs worldwide. The school boasts 32,000 alumni working for 12,000 companies in 135 countries. Its 1,300 current full-time students come from 70 different countries. Thunderbird teaches an additional 7,000 global business professionals each year through its world-renowned executive education programs held at its facilities in Arizona, France, Russia, Mexico, Peru, Taiwan, China, and Japan.