Intensive approach offers students greater flexibility
Business schools offer degrees, programmes and courses, but executive education is a customer-driven business with subject matter and teaching methods determined largely by what students and corporate clients demand. Among the requirements these days is a more flexible qualification that allows candidates to study while working. This is the rationale behind the University of Pretoria’s Gordon Institute of Business Science’s (GIBS) intensive new MBA programme.
Aimed at future business leaders who want “to develop critical business skills and run businesses in a dynamic African context”, the globally accredited MBA programme kicks off in October 2018. It will be presented in an intensive, 13month format, which, says executive director of academic programmes at GIBS, Professor Louise Whittaker, will allow candidates with more flexible work schedules to keep their full-time jobs while completing the course.
“The market demands shorter and more flexible programmes,” says Whittaker. “While this format is intense, students are able to actively contribute their new-found knowledge to their companies because it is structured to allow them to continue working alongside studying.”
Designed to broaden students’ business, country and world views, the GIBS MBA, she says, is not just about attaining knowledge, but also about enabling students to develop their skills and business acumen so that they can lead divisions and organisations, or establish their own businesses.
The intensive MBA focuses on general management with emphasis on making contentrelevant decisions. “Moreover, with attention on enhancing competitiveness in dynamic markets, the compulsory global experience is a distinctive element of all GIBS MBA programmes,” says Whittaker.
GIBS, which was ranked among the world’s 50 best business schools in the UK Financial Times’ 2018 Executive Education ranking for the 15th time earlier this year, offers candidates a choice of global experiences to pursue. These include exchanges, consulting projects and immersions in countries such as Brazil, Chile, China, France, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Morocco, Russia, The Netherlands, US and Vietnam.
The business school also applies a blended approach to teaching. “Through a mix of classroom lectures, case studies, business simulations, company visits and working/ learning groups within a class context, as well as relevant exposure to the best practices of South African and global leadership, the GIBS MBA aims to give candidates a competitive edge in the short-term application of relevant knowledge, which has longterm strategic value for their careers,” explains Whittaker.
The business school believes “who is in the room” with students is as important as what is being taught. MBA candidates are thus “screened to ascertain what they can bring to the classroom in terms of experience and insight”.
“The majority of learning happens from fellow students in the classroom and GIBS makes sure each class comprises a diverse range of experience and is representative of the diversity present in SA,” says Whittaker. “Networks built during and after completion of the programme prove to be invaluable on a personal and professional level.”