Columbia Business School EMBA-Global

Columbia Business School EMBA-Global Program Overview

The CBS EMBA-Global (Americas & Europe) was founded in 2001 by Columbia in conjunction with the London School of Business to cultivate “entrepreneurial thinking with a global perspective,” a combination designed for business leaders with global responsibilities (the Asia experience was added in 2008).

Combining Columbia’s vibrant academic world in the hub that is New York with the uniquely global flavor of London and LBS, the program makes possible the achievement of two MBAs, for a combined curriculum that reflects a greater proportion of “trans-national material,” according to CBS (the Global Asia students receive one degree conferred jointly by the three schools). While in the first three terms the EMBA-Global covers similar material to that covered in the first academic year of a traditional MBA program, in the remainder of the time it gives exposure to more material for people who will lead business trans-continentally: global economic trends, currencies, and management across continents.

International experience and a passion for global business are a must to gain admission to this program.

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What Sets the Columbia Business School EMBA-Global Program Apart

• Location Options: The EMBA-Global program has two options. EMBA-Global Americas & Europe is offered in London and New York by London Business School and Columbia Business School. EMBA-Global Asia extends to HKU Business School with classes held in London, New York and Shanghai.
• Program Structure: EMBA-Global is a five-term, 20-month program starting in May. For the Americas & Europe programs, during the first academic year, core courses take place in blocks that alternate between London and New York roughly once per month (the same is true for the Asia program, with classes, additionally, in Hong Kong, allowing for the exploration of three geographies). During the second academic year, you choose electives from the portfolios of London Business School and Columbia Business School (and Hong Kong). The electives are offered in modular, block week or weekend formats.
• Core Courses: The core courses of both the Americas & Europe and the Asia program delve into the foundational knowledge needed by advanced professionals transitioning careers or jobs or returning to jobs with greater impact: Capital Markets and Investments, Corporate Finance, Data Analytics, Decision Models, Executive Leadership, Financial Planning and Analysis, Organizational Change, and Micro-Economics.
• Leadership Training: Both the America & Europe and the Asia programs start with the Executive Leadership course, which helps students develop self-awareness, leadership skills, and teamwork through a combination of faculty-led plenaries, experiential learning, 1:1 and group coaching, and decoding of individual psychometric and 360-degree feedback.
• Global Business Assignments and International Seminars: The programs feature assignments in such places as Mexico City, Athens, Greece, Buenos Aires, Dubai/Abu Dhabi, Madrid, Mumbai, Tel Aviv, and Cape Town.
• Managerial Experience: Students in the EMBA-Global program generally have managerial experience in people, project, process or budget management. Students are required to enter at that role level so they can directly apply their classroom learning to their jobs.
• Two Alumni Communities: Since graduates of the Americas & Europe program are alumni of both CBS and LBS, they benefit from the privilege of two alumni worlds, for a total CBS/LBS alumni network of nearly 100,000 alumni (119,000 with Hong Kong) connected to countries and industries around the globe and more than 150 alumni clubs. LBS EMBA alumni alone are more than 17,000 alumni. Graduates of the program also have access to the academic and professional programs of all of the schools.

Columbia Business School EMBA Global Typical Class Profile*

The latest Columbia Business School EMBA-Global class profile information reports 106 students. Of these students, 28% identify as women.

The class profile also reports that these students represent 36 countries and 61 cities.

Looking more closely at location, 25% of students came from North/Central America, 25% from Europe, and another 25% from Asia. The remaining 25% were spread across Africa and the Middle East (12%), the United Kingdom (5%), Australia and New Zealand (4%), and South America (4%).

These students had an average of 12 years of work experience. Top pre-EMBA industries include finance (25%), industry/manufacturing (16%), and leisure/retail/entertainment (16%).

Top job functions include general management (32%), finance (15%), and project management (11%).

*This information reflects a combined profile of the Columbia Business School EMBA-Global Asia and Americas & Europe classes that graduated from the program in May 2019.