Author: Stephanie Naudin, Part-time MBA Programme Manager

The Part-Time MBA is designed for people with a few years of work experience under their belts and a desire to move ahead in their careers. With only one course per month, the programme allows students to be masters of their schedules as they juggle work and play.

Though our programme offers all the classics one would expect in an MBA (e.g. accounting, marketing), it also has treats sprinkled throughout that are unique to the MBA journey. For example, we have a Leadership Acceleration Programme that allows students to look inwards and to interact with a diverse array of experts. In these courses, students conduct various personal assessments and receive individual coaching across several months. This customized guidance helps them integrate the tools they’re acquiring into their everyday professional lives. In addition, our Leadership courses are led not only by well-seasoned leaders but also by out-of-the-box thinkers in media and theatre, for instance, to blend business and creativity. Our goal here is to have students dig deep into themselves, to figure out their strengths and weaknesses, and to give them the tools to continue to learn years after leaving the MBA.

Outside of scheduled courses, the MBA offers optional workshops and corporate interactions to continue the work on professional development. With a rich network of corporate contacts, the MBA facilitates opportunities for students to hear from and interact with local industry leaders in the form of webinars, company visits, and panels. With a solid understanding of where our students come from and where they want to go professionally, we design these extracurricular offerings with their needs in mind, presenting them with firsthand accounts of what employers want and how real businesses run.

Aside from the formal aspects of the programme, it wouldn’t be right to omit the most valuable element in the Part-Time MBA: the students. With the schedule set up as it is, we mostly attract people who currently work and live in or near Switzerland. However, that’s not to say that everyone is Swiss. In our current class, we have 16 nationalities represented, coming from a wide range of industries like healthcare, technology, hospitality, and real estate to name a few. During their studies, students have countless opportunities to get to know their fellow classmates including group work, coaching, events, and even lunch time. What they will remember the most is the people they met, the friends they made – different perspectives all working towards the same goal, a sense of community to help each other get across the finish line. Pivotal life events always seem to happen during a student’s MBA: some get married, a few become first-time parents, and others change jobs and/or move cities. Month after month, students always have the consistency of their classmates, the support and reminder that they are all in this together.

Taking your career to the next level doesn’t happen alone. It happens with a lot of hard work and with the support of a thoughtfully designed programme to help you achieve your goals, experts to give you priceless tips and insights, and classmates to lighten the mood and share unforgettable moments with.