Sponsored - Step up into senior leadership with an Executive MBA

The Executive MBA at the University of Sheffield Management School aims to spark ‘lightbulb moments’ and generate immediate results in students’ organisations.

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The school is Triple Crown-accredited - an accolade held by a only handful of elite institutions globally - and the syllabus covers every aspect of business, from accounts to leadership skills, and from economics to corporate governance.

It also encourages periods of reflection.

This all-too-rare chance to step off the hamster wheel and think can have an enormous impact, according to Dr Mel Bull, director of executive and professional education.

She said: “It’s not easy or everyone would have an MBA. It’s hard work, you have to want to do it - but it can be life changing.

“It’s focused on pushing your career and your business forward, but it also creates opportunities to really reflect on where you want to be.

“How often do we, as professionals, step off the hamster wheel and stop? It just doesn’t happen normally.”

The course comprises 13 assignments and one dissertation all aimed at applying newly-acquired knowledge at work.

Students attend for three-day blocks every six-to-eight weeks over two years.

But they don’t rub along with undergraduates and are taught separately in a newly-refurbished base, the ‘executive education suite’ in The Villas on Western Bank. Class sizes are 20 to 25.

The Executive MBA is for everyone Dr Bull says, including those in family firms being groomed for the top job and people working at multi-national organisations. A degree is not necessary with sufficient experience.

She added: “We are always asked about return on investment. All of the assessments are focused on their practice in their own organisations. They can have a massive impact in an SME and in a multi-national organisation.

“After one module, an NHS Exec MBA student applied a new process into their Trust.

“We have a student from a family firm who will be taking over and is working through each department. She wants the skills to step up. She’s applying her learning after every module and the business is getting a return straight away.

“The Executive MBA is for everyone, if you have significant experience you don’t have to have a first degree, you can still do this.”

Staff within the department are a ‘really supportive bunch’ who have all worked and studied part-time before academia and understand the stresses, she added.

Students develop their own network of close working relationships while they are there.

Courses are open to people from all over the country and cost £18,000. Students are usually self-funded or sponsored, but government grants are available https://www.gov.uk/masters-loan.

The department also offers an MSc in Management and Strategic Leadership and a Senior Leader Apprenticeship with Post Graduate Diploma.

The Executive MBA is Triple-Crown accredited due to its recognition by the three main awarding bodies: AACSB, EQUIS and AMBA. It is mark of quality for excellent teaching, outstanding research, support for students and alumni, and links with industry.

Sign up for an open evening in April, June or July.