Applicants flock to the global village
By Della Bradshaw
As a Washington DC-based political lobbyist, Vince Frillici may not seem the obvious candidate to enrol on an executive MBA degree taught across three continents.
But half-way through his OneMBA degree with the Kenan - Flagler school at the University of North Carolina, he has no regrets. " It's already paying dividends, " he says. " I feel it is adding value for my clients already."
Mr Frillici, senior policy adviser with law firm Patton Boggs, is one of a growing number of managers who have chosen to study on a multicontinent programme when opting for an EMBA - an MBA for working managers.
According to data supplied for the 2009 Financial Times ranking, these are the only EMBA programmes to have increased enrolment this year.
Overall enrolment on EMBA programmes has dropped 9 per cent across the schools surveyed by the FT - with a general acknowledgement that enrolment may have dropped further at lower-ranked schools.
This type of multicontinent programme dominates the FT rankings, with the top four programmes all taught on a least two continents. (The Chicago Booth degree, ranked four, is taught on three - in the US, UK and Singapore.) The OneMBA is taught by five schools in Brazil, China, Mexico, the Netherlands and the US. " It's a cliché, but the whole world is like a global village, " says Mr Frillici.
He cites the example of his study group, which includes a woman from Hong Kong and a Dane working in Poland. He remembers sitting in the lecture theatre in Rotterdam and thinking that he had the smartest answer to offer to a question.
However, he says, "a colleague was called to answer first and she had an even smarter answer -I would never have thought of it. But she was coming to it [the question] from a Chinese perspective. "
Peter Brews, associate dean of the OneMBA for UNC believes US managers and business schools have to address such issues as changes in the relationship between the US and the rest of the world.
Globalisation used to mean that US companies sourced products in countries such as China; these days, they have to see such countries as potential markets, he says. "We are the first among equals, not the last superpower standing, " he concludes.
Development of multicontinent programmes has been supported by a change in format for part-time EMBAs, from the evening and weekend format of 20 years ago, to modular structures where students study in one-week blocks.
" We find that people will fly one hour for each day [of the module]," says Javier Gimeno dean of EMBA programmes at Insead.
The popularity of these programmes defies the price - often well above $100,000 ? making the global EMBA arguably the most expensive masters degree around.
The increase in enrolment this year is particularly surprising, as it has come at a time when a number of corporations is cutting back on sponsorship.
At Columbia Business School in New York, full corporate sponsorship has dropped. In the class that enrolled in 2008 (who will graduate in 2010), 54 per cent of students were fully sponsored.
In this year's incoming class the figure is 31 per cent, says Ethan Hanabury, senior associate dean for degree programmes. " That's right in line with the industry, "he adds.
All of which is making EMBA directors scratch their heads. For, although full-time MBAs are counter-cyclical degrees - in an economic downturn applications increase - EMBAs are not.
" In prior downturns, we had seen a decline in enrolments for EMBA programmes," says Mr Hanabury.
This year, he says, applications are flat, with a slight increase in applicants for the joint programme run between Columbia and UC Berkeley in San Francisco and a decrease in the numbers enrolled on its joint programme with London Business School.
Another area where EMBAs, once the Cinderella of the MBA market, are seeing increased enrolment is the Middle East, where schools such as London Business School and Cass Business School at London's City University run programmes.
Cass, for example, had expected to enrol between 45 and 50 students on its Dubai programme this autumn, but had to expand to include 61.
Though EMBA programmes in the region are relatively new, the market is developing rapidly, says Veronica Hope-Hailey, associate dean of MBA programmes at Cass. "They [EMBA programmes in Dubai] are starting to mirror programmes in the UK."
She admits the high number of applicants was a surprise. "But I have an explanation for it. I think what we've got here is a trend that individual employability is very important."
It is a trend also noted by Mr Hanabury. "Self-sponsored MBAs see the MBA as an opportunity to develop themselves. This is the aspect that is most pleasing."
It may also mean that EMBAs are seen by many applicants in the same way as the traditional full-time programme - an investment in a downturn.
The downside for business schools is that they have had to begin offering the same sort of support services to EMBA students as to their full-time counterparts, such as career or funding advice.
This trend seems to vary by region. At the Wharton school at the University of Pennsylvania, which - like Columbia, runs EMBA programmes on the east coast (Philadelphia) and the west (San Francisco) ? Howard Kaufold, director of the Wharton EMBA programme, says that students on the west coast have traditionally been more willing to sponsor themselves.
Wharton has seen a slight dip in applications this year, but Prof Kaufold believes this is not just because of the cost. " We believe prospective students are fearful of asking for time off."
The workload at Wharton is particularly heavy, with students studying exactly the same number of hours as their peers on the full - time MBA. Wharton is the only top school to insist on this - others argue that the increased managerial experience of their students mean they enter the programme with more knowledge and skills.
The Wharton programme is not about to change, says Tom Robertson, the dean. " The alumni for that programme feel it should be held to the same standard [as the full-time degree]."
At the other end of the spectrum, some business schools teach the programme in less than a year.
At Insead, the programme on the Fontainebleau and Singapore campuses lasts 14 months, which makes it ideal for managers whose next move will be an overseas appointment, says Prof Gimeno.
Maciej Szymanski was chief executive of the eastern Europe operations of Sephora, the chain of beauty product stores owned by LVMH, when he started his Insead degree in 2004, studying on both the French and Singapore campuses.
"To be completely honest with you, that was my first time in Asia,"he says.
Today he lives in Shanghai and is president of Sephora's operations in Greater China.
