ABU DHABI: INSEAD, a major international business school, has launched its Global EMBA (GEMBA) in Asia.
The Asia section, announced just over a year ago, exceeded the expected number of admissions by 40 percent and comprises 48 people from 20 nationalities, with experience across a wide range of industries, from banking and finance, to consulting, energy and health.
“Senior-level professionals from across the globe are seeking to enhance their leadership skills,” remarked Peter Zemsky, acting dean of INSEAD.
“Given the increasing business focus on Asia and the ever more discerning shareholders of today’s corporations, professionals are finding global executive education is a spring board to the next level of effective performance in business.”
GEMBA participants spend the majority of their modules based in Singapore over weekends, which provide senior-level executives the flexibility of minimal time off work.
This format allows candidates in the region to combine their studies with the Asian work context.
The new section includes shorter modules, less time away from the office and closer proximity to home as well as the use of weekend modules, which cover much of the core curriculum.
Participants also share elective courses with TIEMBA, INSEAD’s joint program with Tsinghua University in Beijing, giving INSEAD students valuable contact with peers working in China.
“We developed the GEMBA program for Asia based on feedback from candidates in Asia,” said Kristen Lynas, director of executive degree programs at INSEAD.
“Increasingly, managers in Asia are returning for executive level education to broaden their internal perspectives on managing their business. But they can only spare minimal time away from the office.”
The new GEMBA Asia section also provides an opportunity for global managers from elsewhere to better understand the Asian and global business environment by spending time at the INSEAD Singapore campus.
The GEMBA Asia section draws in 30 percent of total GEMBA participants, with the remaining 50 percent of students studying in the GEMBA Europe section and 20 percent in GEMBA Middle East section.
Participants come from 10 countries, made up of 20 nationalities, speaking 22 different mother tongues with 26 languages spoken — a demonstration of the diversity of the class.
The new program will operate similarly to the GEMBA programs currently being held on INSEAD’s campuses in Europe and the Middle East regarding admissions requirements, courses, faculty quality and an emphasis on participant diversity and international orientation.
The three GEMBA sections — GEMBA Asia, GEMBA Middle East, GEMBA Europe — will start in their respective regions in August for this academic year, and then come together at the Singapore campus for the second half of the program up until graduation in December next year.
Singapore-Designed EMBA Test: Applicants for this academic year have also been afforded more options with a new, locally designed INSEAD admissions exam that was introduced for the first time this year. The exam, managed by Prep Zone, a company founded by two former INSEAD alumni in Singapore, is an alternative to the GMAT.
While the GMAT is still accepted, INSEAD joins a growing roster of top business schools adopting new, more tailored modes of assessing candidates.
The exam is designed to build the pool of high-quality candidates by incorporating case studies that evaluate the strength of a candidate’s business sense, and by reducing the bias against some cultural backgrounds. The test is used for all three GEMBA sections.
As one of the world’s leading and largest graduate business schools, INSEAD brings together people, cultures and ideas from around the world to change lives and to transform organizations. A global perspective and cultural diversity are reflected in all aspects of our research and teaching.
With campuses in Europe (France), Asia (Singapore) and Abu Dhabi, INSEAD’s business education and research spans three continents. Its 141 renowned faculty members from 35 countries inspire more than 1,000 degree participants annually in its MBA, Executive MBA and PhD programs. In addition, more than 6,000 executives participate in INSEAD’s executive education programs each year.
In addition to INSEAD’s programs on its three campuses, it participates in academic partnerships with the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia & San Francisco), the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University near Chicago and Johns Hopkins University/SAIS in Washington DC.
In Asia, INSEAD partners with Tsinghua University in Beijing and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore.
INSEAD is a founding partner in the multidisciplinary Sorbonne University created in 2012, and also partners with Fundacao Dom Cabral in Brazil.
In 2009, INSEAD celebrated 50 years as a pioneer of international business education based in Europe. In 2010, INSEAD celebrated the 10th Anniversary of our Asia campus in Singapore. This year, it marks five years of activity in Abu Dhabi.
Around the world and over the decades, INSEAD continues to conduct cutting edge research and to innovate across all of its programs to provide business leaders with the knowledge and sensitivity to operate anywhere.
These core values have enabled it to become truly “The Business School for the World.”