Maastricht School of Management (MSM) is at the forefront of this enduring trend. In the past few decades, it’s built up a global network of partner schools from emerging markets; in China, South America and Central Asia.
Now, it’s looking within Europe itself; launching a new, triple-accredited Executive MBA program in partnership with Suffolk Business School of University Campus Suffolk in the UK.
“We see ourselves very much as a bridge,” says Stuart Dixon, academic coordinator at MSM. “We have contacts and networks all over the world, and we’re trying to bring our partner schools together.”
The Maastricht-Suffolk EMBA is a 24-month, modular program based in Suffolk, delivered entirely in English and targeted primarily at the UK market. It costs just under $32,000.
Suffolk Business School has strong corporate partnerships with British telecoms giant BT Group and insurance firms Willis and AXA.
Yet the UK-based program has a distinctly international flavor. It offers international weeks at MSM’s Maastricht campus in the Netherlands (pictured below) and the Suffolk University campus in Boston in the US.
And Stuart is planning to open up opportunities for international experiences at partner schools throughout the wider MSM network.
“You could have a week in Azerbaijan or Kazakhstan; it’s about getting access to a world that you maybe don’t know too much about,” he says.
University Campus Suffolk has a strong impetus on healthcare and energy; two boom industries in emerging markets.
The EMBA program will give UK-based executives the opportunity to profit from the MSM’s links with emerging markets; to share knowledge and networks with colleagues from traditional energy producers at partner schools in Central Asia, or to experience the huge growth of the healthcare industry in China, where MSM teamed up with Nanjing University to launch the country’s first ever EMBA in healthcare management.
The Maastricht-Suffolk EMBA will have two intakes; its first in October 2016, its second in January 2017. Applicants must have at least 5 years of work experience, although further admissions requirements are flexible.
“We’re looking for people who know where they’re going, who are enthusiastic and want to develop themselves,” Stuart explains.
Will Thomas, deputy head of Suffolk Business School, agrees: “We're looking for committed, dynamic managers who want a course that will stretch them.
“Applicants will also need to be willing to learn from each other and to share experiences in a supportive and confidential learning environment,” he says.
Will is delighted to have formed a mutually-beneficial relationship for the future: “Partnering with one of the best business schools in Europe gives us a unique chance to draw upon the expertise of staff in both schools,” he says.
“We want to see the program establish and grow; becoming known as a high-quality and high-value offering in a dynamic school.”
MSM (pictured above) has a long and successful history of business school partnerships, and some of the most popular schools in the developing world – for example Nanjing in China and Centrum in Peru – have been MSM’s partners for almost two decades, and resulted in thousands of alumni who are playing leading roles in the business sectors of these economies.
For Stuart, the Maastricht-Suffolk partnership is part of MSM’s global mission; to form connections with established schools in the developed world in order to then transfer resources to, and help establish educational institutions in, emerging markets.
“There are skills in the UK, and certainly where Suffolk is connected, which are very important for the emerging economies where MSM is working,” he says. “For us, a partner like Suffolk is very important.”
Find out more about the Maastricht-Suffolk EMBA Program Here.
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