Electives – Giving Your EMBA the Edge

How can a simple choice of elective during your executive MBA program define you and your career?

The answer comes in the form of EMBA electives – specific programs you choose throughout your EMBA studies that will enable you to create your very own specialized EMBA degree. The advantage of EMBA electives is the feedback you gain in each class - EMBA electives classes are made up of 20-30 people, compared to the 30-100+ enrolled in your EMBA program. They predominantly focus on a range of soft skills including leadership, personal development and presentation skills.

Each year, hundreds of managers and aspiring leaders enrol in an MBA degree with the goal of progressing their career up the corporate ladder. Top business schools around the world report increasing student numbers year on year, of those pursuing this postgraduate business management qualification.

As an Executive MBA (EMBA) candidate, you’re one of many applying for a place on such a program, but come graduation how do you ensure you stand out from the crowd against your fellow colleagues who have similar skills and attributes acquired through an EMBA qualification?

Hannelore Forssbohm, Program Manager of the Kellogg-WHU Executive MBA Program, says there are three key ways electives add value to a student’s EMBA program. “Global electives provide a network which spans continents, connecting experts in local markets,” she says. “Students also learn how each local market plays a vital role in the global economy and each elective bridges the gap between theory
and practice.” Kellogg-WHU is a joint EMBA degree program offered by Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, USA, and the WHU-Otto Beisheim School of Management, Germany.

Heather Pelant, Head of iShares Canada, Barclays Global Investors graduated with her EMBA in 1997. One elective in particular gave Pelant insight into issues outside of the US. “As part of a company with a global footprint, the European Elective module was a very valuable choice,” she says. “It’s challenging to think about western issues and not to take North American issues as centric of the world.”

So what then are the differences between electives on offer in North American schools and those on offer across Europe and the UK? QS TopExecEd takes a look at the range of EMBA elective programs on offer at top business schools around the world that will give you and your EMBA a winning edge.<
 

INSEAD is recognised as one of the world’s top-tier business schools and is the only business school with fully-fledged campuses in Asia (Singapore) and Europe (France). Spanning two unique, yet equally important, business environments, INSEAD’s electives program is made up of offerings in accounting, Asian business, entrepreneurial leadership, brand management, international finance management, and industry and competitive analysis. INSEAD EMBA candidates have a choice of three electives from a list of 12.

Kerem Girgin, a current student on the INSEAD Global EMBA said the school’s elective program provided the opportunity to look into other fields. “I chose one [elective] because it directly touched something I knew and I could get deeper into the topic. Another one because I wanted a better understanding of a subject I had briefly touched on, but wished to know more, and the third in order to widen my horizon. The best thing is probably that the electives are really applied and investigate the field, while the core courses are more theory-oriented.”

Rotterdam School of Management (RSM), Erasmus University, says its EMBA curriculum, in particular the specializations on offer, are adapted and modified continuously to reflect the latest global trends. “Our electives allow students to follow up on areas of interest, either related to their present company or industry, or one on which they might aspire to work,” says Ken Robertson, Director of MBA Marketing and Admissions.

RSM’s elective program includes negotiating and contracting, leadership, international investment management, entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship as well as an international elective, but Robertson says it is not so much the electives themselves that have changed, rather the content and context. “In a general management-oriented program, a wide variety has always been necessary,” he says.

Spread across five European cities (Paris, London, Berlin, Madrid and Turin) the ESCP Europe Executive MBA divides its elective courses into three major categories: leadership and management, strategy and marketing, finance/control. Under each category is a range of electives that allow candidates to gain a deeper understanding in a specialized area of their choice. Electives include: corporate responsibilities and ethics, personal impact in communication, international contract law, sustainable development and corporate strategies, financial planning and corporate hedging strategies. ESCP EMBA candidates have a choice of 12 electives from a list of 36.