Hello Forum,

I am after some advise on what business school will be best for me in light of my situation and future aspirations.

Current: Working for a global IT company in London as a Senior Manager with 14 yrs of total experience, 5 years in Management and 2 years in Senior Management. Background is Service Management/Account Management - commercially focused.

Drivers for EMBA : I want to move back to India in 2 years and progress my career in a Senior Leadership role (COO, Country Head, GM). EMBA will help add weight to my CV and give me the needed insight and skills to run an organization such as corporate finance, Marketing, Strategic Leadership etc. I also see MBA as a per-requisite in many instances for the top jobs in India with competition from the IIMs and IITs and a large diaspora of Indian execs who have studied/worked across the globe with US and UK MBA degrees.

I have an Undergraduate degree from India (Bachelors of Commerce)

Business Schools: I have been considering the following business schools to do my EMBA.

Henley EMBA - Flexible learning 30 months or the 21 months Executive route
Ashridge EMBA - 21 months

Questions:

Are my reasons to do an MBA, primarily to make myself more attractive to potential employers in APAC (specifically India) a good reason or solid international experience along with a Indian undergraduate degree good enough?

I have read a lot about Henley on this forum, I know someone who is a current EMBA student at Henley and he speaks higly of the course. I am currently leaning towards henley as it is a solid 'Tier 2' B school amongst the triple accreditation category - thoughts?

Ashridge Business School - I have applied at Ashridge currently, but I am also sensing that it is not as well regarded as Henley or Cranfield (FT rankings etc). It's leadership courses and custom programs seem to be more well regarded then the EMBA?

Any thoughts and views on my questions will be helpful.

Thanks,
Kapil

Ashridge is an excellent school but it has little brand equity outside Europe. Why are you only looking at those two schools? Why not look at EMBA schools with a big network in India? How to use LinkedIn to find the best school www.find-mba.com/board/33571

It seems like factors like networks and placements should be more important to you than a school's leadership courses or custom courses, no?

Why not browse the alumni directories of these business schools to see what kind of grads are in India? That should give you some sense of each school's footprint in the country.

My guess though is that you'd probably have more luck with a ranked EMBA program like Cranfield, Imperial, Oxford, etc.

Hey, I'm in a similar position but with only 10 years of work experience. Also considering these schools but the Warwick EMBA as well. I work in IT project management but am looking to move into CTO-style roles. Is one of these EMBAs better than the others for me?

The Warwick program is ranked substantially higher than Henley in the current FT EMBA ranking. In general that probably means it's a safer bet, although it would ultimately depend on your industry/targeted companies, etc.

Research people in the roles you're looking at in your industry, and see if they did an EMBA and if so where they did it.

Thanks you all for contributing to the post.

Since the last update, I have got an acceptance on the Ashridge EMBA March Intake. While its definitely geared to more senior execs, classes are small and possibly the alumni network is smaller then the others on the list.

I am also awaiting to hear from Henley for the EMBA starting in July. The open day in December was really interesting and I enjoyed the taster lecture. Hoping to get a positive response.

I somehow missed MBS! and having done more research around its Global MBA program and based on its global reach, strong alumni network (especially India) and the cost.

I am not looking to go into Finance and Cass seems to be have a very finance oriented course/module/format.

Any Feedback (on MBS v/s Henley)

The Global MBA at Manchester has a pretty junior cohort. Its Global EMBA has a much better cohort.

Sorry Duncan - I did mean the Global EMBA (30 month program).

I have applied at both Warwick and Manchester now - making most of the holiday time off :)

georgemccar1 - What school's you applying or have applied so far?

To conclude the post, i was offered a position on the MBS global MBA Jan and July intake on Monday.

I took the plunge and opted for Jan intake and in Manchester this week for my induction and 1st workshop, reading material still being posted from singapore:)

I felt that MBS was a winner overall with its global exposure and presence, strong alumni/network, particularly in Asia and opp to do 2 residential study blocks in any global campus, also its more traditional MBA then Ashridge and fares better on rankings.

I do not have a plan post mba to go ibto consulting or other fields but definetly want to work in asia and fast track my career in current org.

Thank you Duncan and MBAhipster for ur response to my post.

Kapil

Congratulations Kapil. As an MBS alumnus, I am happy to welcome you to the community.

PS Do let us know your initial impressions....

[Edited by Duncan on Jan 07, 2015]