The Program Content of an MBA in Europe: An Introduction

When choosing a business school, it goes without saying that extensive research into individual programs is essential. You will need to look into the content, the delivery and areas of focus carefully to discern which program is right for you.

This in-depth research will come towards the end of your selection process, where the questions will be unique and focused for each candidate. However, for those earlier in the process, the questions will be more general: what does an MBA program actually involve, what will you learn and how will you learn it?

So for those just beginning to think about it, sticking to one region to keep it simple, here’s a broad look at what you can expect if you study an MBA in Europe, focusing on five top schools.

The MBA curriculum

At SDA Bocconi, says Gianmario Verona, director of the school’s MBA’s program, the MBA curriculum is centered on “four core pillars”, which they believe are the key competencies of the managers of the future: planning and innovating, controlling and investing, leading people and processes, soft skills and values.

“We have changed our program to serve the needs of modern corporations, which need ambidextrous managers – that is managers that can play with rationality but also with imagination. As you may notice, all pillars acknowledge the ambidextrous capacity of good managers and we always try to blend the two.”

Before the program even begins at IMD in Switzerland, students are offered a preprogram in accounting and finance to make sure they’re up to scratch and ready for the MBA curriculum proper, says  Janet Shaner, director of MBA program design and delivery. The course itself is broken into four parts.

“We have four modules in the program. The first is about grounding everyone in the business fundamentals, accounting, marketing, finance, operations and leadership. Then we go to more global function; strategy, global political economy, industry analysis, looking a bit more globally, and then move to applying this knowledge in real international consulting projects.” Elective modules round things off.

Again, there is a balance between soft and hard skills in the IMD MBA curriculum, as you will find in any top MBA in Europe. “We try to help students understand both the hard skills they can learn, and the soft skills they need to lead people. The real-world project, which takes place in South Africa, helps them get a feel of how to answer the business questions to which the answer is always, ‘it depends’.”

MBA projects: Learning by experience

Indeed there are no hard and fast answers to the challenges thrown up in business; as Shaner suggests, the answer is nearly always, “it depends”. Therefore, at its heart, the MBA is an experiential degree, as there is no better way to approach such problems than experiencing them firsthand. If you choose to study an MBA in Europe – or any other region – you will find that real-life MBA projects and case studies are where the learning really takes place.

“Real-life projects are the core of the program,” says Heather Spiro, associate director of MBA programs at Manchester Business School, with the taught courses largely intended to build into these.

The main strength of the MBA projects approach (known as the 'Manchester Method' at MBS), Spiro continues, is that it forces critical thinking: “The project is not just finance, not just marketing, not just logistics; it’s where the subjects interface; this is real learning.” The key advantages of these projects, she concludes, is that students are forced to make decisions with imperfect information – as they would have to in real life, in which there is also no right answer (beyond “it depends”…).

MBA projects – in the form of real-life case studies – are central at IESE Business School, says Anjaney Borwankar, director of corporate development in SE Asia, again because of how they prepare students for real life. “The groups we put students in have been designed in a way that ensures a variety of profiles, with an aspect of conflict incorporated. You don’t have to like them, but there is no option to change your team.”

This, he explains, teaches you how to influence and work alongside other people, improving your communication and negotiation skills. “IESE is second largest provider of cases after Harvard Business School. We pride ourselves on the international nature of the cases, which come from all over the world.”

Borwankar is himself an alumnus of IESE, and found the case study approach hugely beneficial in widening his perspective. “If there was a case from India (where he is originally from), I would go in thinking I was an expert, with a clear view. But suddenly, the discussion makes you realize you’ve been looking at it in a narrow-minded way. The case study method makes you really appreciate different perspectives.”

Top European schools are known for the international nature of their cohorts, so you can certainly expect to benefit from a diversity of approaches should you choose to study in the region. Over 60 nationalities are represented at IESE, while 90% of MBS’s cohort is from outside of the UK.

Keeping MBA programs in Europe up to date

A benefit of a real-life project approach is, of course, that it is by definition up to date as it takes place in the ever shifting real world or in examples from it. However, this is not the only way in which MBA programs in Europe are kept up to date. More deliberate efforts are also made in terms of pedagogy.

“The ESADE philosophy is based on the fact that the global context has changed so much and is indeed in a state of continuous transformation. We therefore believe we have to develop leaders who are adaptable, flexible, open to debating different opinions and who know how use their networks/alliances. The content is kept up to date via a continuous redesign of electives and for 2014 a redesign of the curriculum is planned,” reveals Glòria Batllori, executive director of the MBA at ESADE Business School.

Borwankar explains the process at IESE. “Every year there is a joint IESE-Harvard academic committee meets to review the curriculum. We speak to companies and see what their learning and development needs are, what challenges they face, what talent they are looking for.” If a theme arose consistently from IESE’s various global teams, an elective course would be offered to students, and if it proved popular, it would eventually be moved to the core MBA curriculum.

Student feedback is a key part of this process, explains Spiro: “MBA students are not shy about saying if things aren’t going the way they anticipated. If there’s something they don’t think is appropriate, then we’ll look at it, and often, we can remedy it quite quickly.” A constant process of accreditation serves as a reminder to keep the program relevant, she adds.

In 2014, MBS will be changing the way it deals with its international business and innovation management courses, incorporating them into various projects to free up room for a new course on negotiation, tactics and strategy. “There is a lot of interest among the student body in increasing the time spent on negotiation, as you need negotiation for everything,” Spiro explains.

Of course, keeping MBA programs in Europe fresh hinges on having agile and talented faculty – and indeed, these schools can deliver. For example, Bocconi’s faculty, as Verona explains, reads like a chapter of a who’s who in business education.

“Our faculty includes great researchers, including Nobel Prize winners such as Michael Spence, the 2001 Nobel laureate in economics, authors of leading textbooks, such as Rob Grant, author of Competitive Strategy Analysis, CEOs and top managers, including many senior managers of the LVMH Group and Giovanni Gorno Tempini, CEO of Cassa Depositi and Prestititi – the piggybank of Italian State, and of course, many senior lecturers with considerable consultancy experience.”

So, students of top MBA programs in Europe can expect an approach solidly-grounded in real life with a curriculum which is kept constantly updated by top-drawer faculty. The ultimate goal, says Spiro, is to produce students who can hit the ground running: “We want to produce graduates who are bright, capable, able to mange in diverse world. We produce the people companies want.”