The Case Study: London Business School
THE DIFFICULT decisions for executive MBA (EMBA) candidates don’t begin and end with the choice of business school. Once offers are accepted, students are faced with an enormous range of study options. London Business School’s (LBS) 20-month EMBA programme is a prime example of how candidates can tailor a course to suit their career goals.
The LBS programme is split in two. Part 1 is composed of compulsory core courses, in subjects ranging from corporate finance to marketing. Although some applicants, with an eye to progressing their career in a specific sector, may wonder why they need a grounding in an apparently irrelevant area, the aim is to provide a basic set of practical skills that can then be rapidly applied to your business career – and enable you to take on any senior leadership role. “Our programmes aim to provide a solid foundation in business and management,” says LBS’s Hannah Daniels.
Part 2, purely made up of electives, is where LBS expects EMBA students to really differentiate themselves for future employers. The school offers 70 different electives, of which students must take six to eight. But while a future CFO might think Financial Statement Analysis, for example, is the obvious choice for them, LBS hopes that the electives will serve a broader purpose – to broaden networks and perspectives. As such, boosting sector specialism should not be the only consideration.
LBS puts great store by its international links. Its current cohort is made up of students from 25 different countries, and the LBS EMBA also has a compulsory international business assignment. There are also further options for those looking for truly global careers.