Bangalore, January 7 2012: While an MBA degree is now recognized as a key component to enhance Information Technology opportunities, not many institutions offer MBA options that make sense at mid career level – or after a few years in the industry. This is a period when many aspirants to the MBA accolade hope to move from field or lab work to management positions – or if they are more ambitious, to new leadership or entrepreneur roles.
The MBA and Executive MBA (EMBA) degrees offered by the multi campus ( France, Abu Dhabi and Singapore) INSEAD Business School have a special focus on this need, explained V ( “Paddy”) Padmanabhan, Professor of Marketing and the John H Loudon Chaired Professor of International Management, INSEAD during a recent visit to India.
He was part of the faculty of experts at the 2nd India Business Dialogue held in Bangalore, late last year – an event that in many ways exemplified the way in which INSEAD seeks to differentiate itself from dozens of global MBA programmes. The dialogue was as part of INSEAD’s Leadership Programme for Indian Executives, a regular curriculum outreach designed to strengthen and advance the leadership skills of middle level professionals. Global knowledge, filtered through local experience – that seemed to be the formula that INSEAD suggested for success.
INSEAD’s standard MBA is targeted at executives of 5 years working experience looking to develop their leadership potential. The EMBA is for those of around 12 years work experience with at least 3 years of management experience looking to further their leadership skills.
Students who enrol in INSEAD’s MBA or EMBA progammes in India ( typically employed professionals) are able to apply their learning in their own jobs, then network with their peers and mentors through web conferences, before taking the final tests either at Abu Dhabi or at Singapore, Paddy explained in the course of a special briefing for IndiaTechOnline.
INSEAD’s faculty of nearly 150 is spread across 35 nationalities, making for a rich diversity of talent – and a 45,000 strong alumni account for over 1000 participants every year for MBA , some 2000-plus for EMBA and around 80 PhD programmes.
India has multiple institutes that award MBAs both through full time campus courses as well as accelerated 1-year MBAs. But INSEAD’s increasing popularity and its successful stress on developing leadership was evident at events like the Bangalore Business dialogue, where many successful entrepreneurs shared their experience in candid and egoless interactive sessions.