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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