February 3, 2003


Goizueta's new modular EMBA attracts global interest

 

By Michael Terrazas mterraz@emory.edu


For more than two decades, the Goizueta Business School has featured a weekend Executive MBA (EMBA) program for mid- to upper-level business professionals ready to upgrade their management skills while staying on the job. But the very nature of the program limited it to individuals living near Atlanta.

Now, a new Modular EMBA program format offers the same degree from the same top 10 program to people from virtually anywhere in the world. Currently in the middle of its first year, the 20-month program enables students to complete coursework via distance-learning technology in between eight weeklong “residencies” on the Emory campus and another abroad.

“Our weekend format draws 80–90 percent of the participants from the greater Atlanta area and up to a two-hour commute,” said Nancy Ortman, director of the MEMBA program. “If you are going to come here every other weekend, you’re not going to fly in from overseas.

“We looked at this new format as a way to grow our program’s reach, to strengthen the global participation in the classroom and to continue to build the Emory reputation for academic excellence here and abroad,” she continued. “The new program has indeed drawn from a wider geographical area; we have people from Boston, Michigan, South Africa, Kenya, Egypt—but, even within Atlanta, it’s drawn people who really can’t commit to an every-other-weekend model.”

Tuition for the MEMBA program covers not only coursework but also room and board at the Emory Conference Center for the eight residencies, during which participants will be in class from Sunday through Saturday for about seven hours per day. The ninth residency, held in an international location, focuses on global business.
Another new area of focus

is on the ethics of leadership, Ortman said. Even before the recent and widely publicized corporate scandals, the school embraced a new brand “principled leaders for global enterprise,” and the modular program will serve as a test lab for curricula that could find their way into the weekend program.

Goizueta’s weekend MBA program is ranked No. 8 in the world by Business Week, No. 9 globally by Financial Times and No. 11 in the country by U.S. News & World Report. This new option enables more business professionals—and the companies that employ them—to develop and enhance the kind of management skills necessary in today’s global marketplace.

“These [students] are definitely professionals; they usually have about 10 years of business-managerial experience,” Ortman said. “Oftentimes their companies are sponsoring them as a way to say, ‘I value you—you are one of my high-potential resources, and therefore I’m going to sponsor you in hopes that, by my investing in you, you will stay with my company.’”

For more information about the MEMBA program, visit
http://goizueta.emory.edu/degree/exe_mba.html
. EMBA open houses are scheduled on Feb. 6, March 20, May 22, June 18, Aug. 7 and Sept. 10 from 6:30–8:30 p.m. in room 207 of the business school.



 

 

 

 

 

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