Why part-time executive study doesn’t have to mean sacrifices
FOR MANY prospective MBA students, professional networking opportunities will be a major factor in deciding between full and part-time study options – the latest QS TopMBA.com Applicant Survey found that over 50 per cent pursue the qualification with this in mind. And with figures from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics finding that around 70 per cent of jobs are found through networks, it’s surely a sensible consideration.
But according to Kathy Harvey, executive MBA (EMBA) programme director at the University of Oxford’s Said Business School, the idea that part-time study involves sacrificing networking opportunities doesn’t always hold true. Said, and many other schools providing part-time and executive MBA courses, offers week-long modules. “You get the kind of immersive experience that you would if studying full-time, but you’re able to go away and apply it in the workplace almost straight away,” Harvey says. And as candidates continue to turn to alternatives to the conventional MBA (QS says that interest in full-time study fell for the second year in a row in 2013, while the numbers interested in part-time options rose from 26.7 to almost 29 per cent last year), business schools are attempting to provide many of the traditional benefits of full-time study in alternative formats.
“The very best schools have excellent teachers,” says professor Stephen Thomas, course director for Cass’s EMBA, “but they also offer an excellent forum for students to learn from each other.” Cass, for example, takes its part-time students abroad for group work, with teams of five or six cooperating on a real business project.
But anyone considering part-time study should be aware of the enormous time commitment. “It’s going to be tough,” Thomas says, and most will need to seek the support of their employer – if not for financial reasons, then just for time off for exam preparation. And with Cass recommending between 12 and 15 hours of independent study each week (on top of time in the classroom and the day job), it’s not a decision to be taken lightly.