Alberta/Haskayne EMBA

The Alberta/Haskayne Executive MBA program is jointly sponsored by the University of Calgary and the University of Alberta. The 20-month program offers several special features including elective courses, an Executive Speakers Series, Executive Coaching, and a 10-day International Study Trip. It is ranked in the top 50 EMBA programs worldwide by The Financial Times (UK).

You will complete 20 courses during the program, working through Friday/Saturday classes, and one-week intensive courses at the beginning of each of the first three semesters. We will challenge you to think about the work you do and how you do it. You will be exposed to the latest management theories and research, and challenged to come up with applications you can put to work on Monday morning. You will develop new skills and have more confidence about the decisions you make.

The curriculum is designed to sharpen your skills in the key functional areas of management such as finance, marketing and operations. Then you will move on to the latest management theory and practice in four key areas: leadership, strategy, globalization and the management of innovation and technology in the new economy. This approach ensures that you will be ready to take on the entrepreneurial, administrative and leadership roles of the general manager.

Your classmates become partners in your learning process. Sometimes they will reaffirm what you think, other times they will challenge the assumptions and decisions you make. We select individuals who have a record of success and the potential to do a whole lot more. You will be in a class with managers from a wide range of companies and industry sectors. It is like having a group of highly skilled consultants at your fingertips. Imagine being in a room full of talented individuals who have “been there...done that”. One thing that’s obvious from the start – there are many different ways to solve a problem. You will get lots of practical ideas about how to tackle the issues you face every day.

Chances are your organization is already involved in international trade and investment. And if it hasn’t happened yet it is just around the corner because the world economy is becoming much more interdependent. In our program you will explore international issues across the curriculum. You will tackle globalization challenges by looking at real life case studies of companies operating globally, hearing from international guest speakers, learning from the international experiences of your classmates. And we cap it off with a 10-day International Study Tour.

You will be working with faculty who have studied outside Canada. In fact, 90% of faculty received their PhDs from universities outside this country. Professors are currently engaged in a wide spectrum of teaching and research activities all over the world. You will benefit directly from their collaborative research with foreign colleagues and their experiences teaching in executive development programs worldwide.

As the chief entrepreneurial, administrative, and personal leader, today’s executive officer must make judgments about the current state of internal and external affairs against an increasingly complex and uncertain environment. We will use a number of tools to help you assess your strengths and weaknesses and customize a development plan to enhance your strategic leadership capabilities.

The Alberta/Haskayne EMBA program focuses on producing leaders who can inspire their organizations to create advantage in the face of increasing complexity and change, even as these challenges act as significant threats to other organizations. Once you understand yourself, you are ready to participate in revolutionizing your company. The challenge for senior executives is to revolutionize their companies’ business models and find fundamentally new and different ways to make their organizations innovative and competitive. Being a leader today is about conceiving, articulating and managing a radically different strategy and organization.

Every course in our program will give you something of value you can apply in your organization. But the Major Project Course will allow you to take on a specific major undertaking for your company – whether it’s a change initiative or a new business opportunity. You will write the business case, sell the project to senior management, and develop an implementation plan. This course forces you to master your research, project management, and presentation skills.

Success as a manager depends on more than acquiring technical knowledge and management concepts. Success comes from understanding organizational politics and culture and the ability to leverage the skills of others. Students select projects that are decision-oriented and of value to the organization and the student. In order to be successful, students need access to other parts of their company and get “buy-in” at all levels.