What is the return on education with an EMBA?

As an (aspiring) leader, you want to find the connection between career advancement and continuing to invest in yourself. What exactly can an Executive MBA (EMBA) offer you in this regard? Associate Professor Nicolas Chevrollier of Nyenrode Business University tells you all about the return on education: “You bring your business and management knowledge up to date, develop your leadership skills, and improve your self-knowledge. But perhaps the most valuable is the connection you build with yourself and your classmates. That is for life.”

An EMBA is designed for professionals with at least five years of work experience, those ready for the next step in their career toward general management. “Our students are usually highly educated specialists who want to further develop their business and management skills at a rapid pace. This prepares them for the next step: an executive role in mostly internationally operating organizations or their fast-growing own company,” Nicolas Chevrollier explains, associate professor at Nyenrode Business University.

Chevrollier provides various lectures for Nyenrode's MBAs, including the EMBA. Several renowned business schools offer EMBA programs.

“The EMBA van Nyenrode distinguishes itself with a personal approach, the small classes, the program’s design with a combination of scientific knowledge and practical application, and the fact that leadership development is addressed within all modules. All this at a fast pace, proving it can be a challenge to combine this with work and private life,” Chevrollier said.

Nyenrode Business University's Executive MBA rose from 16th to 5th place in CEO Magazine's Global Executive MBA rankings last year. The list includes 347 MBA programs from 180 business schools in 27 countries around the world.

The compilers of the rankings rate EMBAs based on factors such as quality of faculty, international diversity, class size, accreditation, gender distribution, and personal attention to students in their professional development.

Unparalleled international outlook

Chevrollier worked in various places in Europe, the US, and Africa. So the international aspect of Nyenrode's EMBA really appeals to him. For two years, you follow twelve intensive modules with like-minded participants, four of which are abroad. You are introduced to diverse cultures in business and go to partner universities in Asia, Africa, the US, and Latin America.

“This gives you an unparalleled perspective on international business. Something you can never learn from slides. You really have to experience this by being immersed. In Africa, for example, participants visit a township to explore the impact of apartheid on society and exchange sustainability practices with a wine producer in Stellenbosch. The program is a mix of insightful discussions, group dynamics as well as confrontations with poverty, cultural differences, and their impact,” Chevrollier explains.

Silicon Valley in the US is all about Innovation & Digitization, with various lectures and company visits on the agenda. Areas of focus include (generative) artificial intelligence (AI) and Design Thinking. In addition, the participants will visit Latin America, where sustainability in particular is the focus, and Southeast Asia, where the program focuses on globalization.

The group is together day and night, which quickly creates a very close-knit team. Also in the Netherlands, students spend a week every two months on campus in Breukelen, to work on their own development in a safe environment, shielded from the perils of the workplace and at home, with complete dedication.

Develop your leadership, vision for the future and network

The program has a boot camp structure and is designed to challenge you and take you out of your comfort zone on a regular basis. With academic concepts about leadership and management, but also in a personal way.

Chevrollier: “You take a fresh new look at your vision, beliefs, and the experiences you have so far in your work. You get to know your strengths and weaknesses that will come in handy for future career choices. What you learn during the intensive modules of this MBA, you can immediately put into practice at your organization.”

You finish the program with a final project. This can be a consulting project, an academic research project, or an entrepreneurial project. After a successful defense of your thesis, you will earn an internationally recognized MBA title and become part of the Nyenrode community. “The people with whom you follow this MBA work at higher professional education and university thinking levels for all kinds of different organizations and in different industries. What binds them is their ambition for a leadership role.”

Invest in yourself

Executive MBA is an investment in yourself. The program will boost your leadership skills. You work on your personal growth and get to know your qualities, passions, style, and personality better. You will be quickly prepared for the next big step in your career. But former participants especially appreciate the connection that is created. “Not only the connection with yourself, but especially with your fellow students. That connection is for life. Afterwards, you can always fall back on the worldwide Nyenrode alumni network.”