IN TODAY'S globalised world, aspiring executives need not necessarily travel afar to get an internationally recognised degree.
The University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business opened a campus in Singapore in 2000, offering part-time Executive MBA courses to experienced professionals from the region, adding to the same programme offered in Barcelona and Chicago.
Students from the different locations are not totally apart from one another. Tradition has it that students from all three campuses get together in Chicago in their first week of class. In fact, a quarter of the 16 class weeks are spent outside their 'home' campus, with one summer spent in London with counterparts from the other campuses.
The curriculum is the same regardless of the location, and the teaching is done by University of Chicago staff. It is because of the demand on the faculty's time that it is impossible for the programme to be offered on a full-time basis, says Beth Bader, managing director of the Asia programme. Working and studying at the same time carries many benefits for the executives anyway, more so than returning to school full-time.
'The fact that they can continue working is very important. They can continue with their current local experience as well as getting an internationally based education valued in the east and west,' said Ms Bader, adding that among the part-time students were people from non-business sectors, like social services.
'Employers tend to prefer staff who can practise their education in the real world. Compare someone who has got out of touch with the market for a couple of years with another who is keeping up with contacts, staying at the cutting edge of what's happening in their work and getting a world-class MBA education at the same time. That person is going to be valuable to employers.'
