Changes to Ivey Business School EMBA Program
Revolutionise Business Education Model

Richard Ivey School of Business (Ivey Business School), the first North American business school to establish a campus in Asia, has announced that the duration of its Hong Kong EMBA program will be reduced from the present 22 months to 18 months. Its content and core values will remain unchanged. This change will take effect commencing August 2006. Under the new format, the class will work through the summer; and all program classes will continue to be held at Ivey Business School’s permanent campus at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Professor Kathleen Slaughter, Associate Dean & Executive Director of Ivey Business School’s Hong Kong campus, explained that Ivey Business School’s EMBA program in Canada was compressed two years ago. The initiative was very well received. “This change caters to the needs of students and the global trend of rapid business growth. EMBA students at our Hong Kong campus are all senior executives based across Asia. They have to simultaneously further their studies while shouldering heavy work responsibilities. Moreover, they often travel around the world for business; some of them are even relocated to other countries by their companies during the program period. Therefore, the ability to complete the EMBA in a shorter time span offers them greater flexibility in their career and business developments,” she added.

Approximately 40 senior executives, entrepreneurs and professionals join the Ivey Business School Hong Kong EMBA program every year. Typically, they have 10 or more years of work history and significant experience in managing people, activities and financial results. Typically 48 percent of their participants are CEOs, Presidents, Vice Presidents, Managing Directors or General Managers; 32 percent are Managers; 5 percent are Engineers or Consultants; and 15 percent have other job titles.

The adoption of the case-teaching approach has always been one of Ivey Business School’s most unique qualities. Ivey Business School is one of the four true case-teaching business schools in the world, and it is the only one of these four with a permanent campus in Hong Kong. The case-teaching approach brings real-life corporate scenarios into the classroom. Through engagement in the interactive debate and discussion process, program participants from different cultures, organisations and business sectors learn from one another. Usually 13 to 14 nationalities are represented in each EMBA class every year, and approximately 30 percent of class members commute from outside of Hong Kong for the program. Thus, various new opportunities arise as participants expand their personal and business networks.

Cross-Enterprise Leadership™ -- An Innovative Business Education Model

Apart from shortening the duration of its program, Ivey Business School has embarked on a unique business education approach known as Cross-Enterprise Leadership™. Combining individual disciplines from traditional business education, such as finance, accounting and marketing, into a few key subjects, Cross-Enterprise Leadership™ aims to train participants to tackle cross-enterprise business issues with breadth and capacity. The learning experience is structured to generate graduates who have the ability to think, act and lead from a cross-enterprise perspective. Cross-Enterprise Leadership™ builds on Ivey Business School’s strength in experiential learning, which immerses students in practical, real-world business problems through the case method and field work.

Ivey Business School launched the EMBA as its flagship program in Hong Kong when it was first established here in 1998. The Financial Times ranked the Ivey Business School No. 14 (up from 16 in 2004) in its 2005 ranking of EMBA programs, whereas the BusinessWeek EMBA rankings placed it No. 22 (up from 25 in 2004).

Founded at The University of Western Ontario in 1922, Ivey Business School has long been a global business school. At its permanent campus located at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Ivey Business School offers EMBA and Executive Development programs to executives in Hong Kong and across the region.