25. Notre Dame University
Mendoza College of Business
Notre Dame, Indiana 46556
Admissions: 574-631-4948
Email: lheming@nd.edu
Website: http://business.nd.edu/executive_mba/
Apply Online: http://business.nd.edu/Executive_MBA/Admissions_and_Financing/Apply/
The Mendoza College of Business redesigned the curriculum of its Executive MBA program recently to emphasize strategic-thinking skills and the ability to effect strategies through strong values-based leadership. The new curriculum took effect in August 2011 for the incoming South Bend class of 2013 and the Notre Dame Chicago EMBA program that began in January 2012.
“This curriculum is designed to develop a senior management perspective in our students over the course of two years,” said Paul C. Velasco, director of Notre Dame Executive Education Degree Programs, in a statement. “Given the complexities and fluidity of the global business climate, effective business leaders must do more than consume information. It’s vitally important that they understand how to interpret and use information to make critical business choices on a daily basis. They must also be able to create a flexible, resilient implementation strategy.”
The program will continue to include a strong focus on ethics, beginning with its signature leadership program, Executive Integral Leadership (EIL), and integrating considerations of values-based leadership and ethical decision making throughout the coursework. One potential drawback of this program is the very small percentage of international students. Only 2% of the latest entering class was international, the lowest percentage of any top 25 EMBA program ranked by PoetsandQuants. In contrast, 31% of the EMBA students at No. Wharton are international and 32% of the EMBA students at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School are international.
One of the most notable changes in the new curriculum is the addition of Strategic Thinking as one of the first courses that students will take in their first year. “The Strategic Thinking course provides the structural steel to reshape students’ mindset so that they can think about business more completely and holistically,” said Velasco. “It sets the foundation that helps students synthesize individual courses into a unified general management framework.”
Another new course in the second year, Advanced Tactics, is also strategy-focused, but drives students to approach business problems as dynamic systems, where decisions must be considered in the context of interrelated functions and a dynamic market structure.
Additional new courses include Design Thinking and Innovation, Change Management, Strategic Planning for Growth and a re-worked Financial Statement Analysis and Valuation – all intended to provide students with innovative frameworks for driving value creation and implementing change.
Application Deadline: June 1 – South Bend-Cincinnati Executive MBA Program
November 1 – Chicago Executive MBA Program
Latest Up-to-Date Executive MBA Rankings:
2012 Poets&Quants: 25
2011 U.S. News & World Report: NR
2010 The Wall Street Journal: 6
Rankings Analysis: Mendoza’s Executive MBA program lost some ground in the PoetsandQuants’ 2012 analysis, falling three places to a rank of 25th from 22 in 2011. But the downturn was largely due to the decision to make what had been a North American ranking global with the inclusion of non-U.S. schools. Three EMBA programs ahead of Notre Dame’s on the new list are in Europe and that alone would account for the loss of three places.
