According to a recent McKinsey report, over the next five years an estimated 300,000 executive positions will be created in the GCC. In order to get ahead in the increasingly competitive regional business environment, many of these freshly minted executives are turning to higher education. Executive education, however, can get pricey with many degrees running more than $100,000. This month’s special report provides an overview of executive education to aid potential students with their decision-making. The first half of the report approaches the subject from an international level and considers some of the top business schools in the world, including the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, Wharton Business School, London Business School and INSEAD.
For those who cannot make it all the way to the United States or Europe for a two-year commitment, there are regional options as well. The second part of this special report takes a look at regional executive education. This section presents an overview of some of the Middle East’s best institutions of higher learning, from Morocco to the United Arab Emirates. Interviews with the business schools at the American Universities in Beirut and Cairo, in addition to top business schools in Qatar, Syria and the UAE, round out the research.
Current trends in the executive education industry indicate a dramatic rise in the number of graduate level executive education programs in the region. In North Africa, Morocco has a higher level of enrollment in existing business and management programs than ever before. In the Levant, especially Lebanon, the number and variety of higher-level executive education programs has grown. Meanwhile, the Gulf has seen universities that offer business education crop up in droves. There has been an influx of foreign schools into the region as well. Several Western institutions have established centers for instruction and research, while others have formed strategic partnerships with local schools. One unique example of this is the College of the North Atlantic – Qatar, in which an unlikely partnership has paired the frigid island of Newfoundland, Canada, with the sun-scorched Gulf state Qatar. The imported Canadian educational institution has equipped thousands of Qatari graduates to start doing work previously done by expatriates.
Executive education has also been evolving: 10 years ago the Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree was the benchmark for graduate level business education. Today, older executives are going back to school to brush-up their skills with the more distinguished Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA). The types of skills being taught are changing as well. Focus on hot topics, like Islamic finance, has skyrocketed. Several schools offering executive education in the United Kingdom have now established Islamic finance specific programs. For example, Cass business school has an EMBA with two specialist streams in Islamic finance and energy, while Bangor University in Wales offers a master’s degree in Islamic banking.
And with the advent of non-degree ‘open program’ courses, even more options are becoming available. Schools such as Wharton and INSEAD are offering open program courses in the Gulf on a variety of topics, including finance, human resources and negotiation. Yet it should be known that despite the big names and high prices, these three or four-day retreats often serve as more of a networking opportunity than a venue for formal education.
Although for different reasons, executive education is growing both globally and regionally. New trends are increasingly blurring the lines between education and high-level corporate networking. It is expected that both of these trends will continue, especially in a region with substantial amounts of human and financial capital. In terms of options, business professionals looking for executive education have never had it so good.
