Executive Education

Executive education (Exec. Ed) refers to academic programs at graduate-level business schools worldwide for executives, business leaders and functional managers. These programs are generally non-credit and non-degree-granting, but sometimes lead to certificates. Estimates by Business Week magazine suggest that executive education in the United States is approximately an $800 million annual business with approximately 80 percent provided by university-based business schools. Key players in university-based executive education span elite universities, as well as many regional and mid-sized universities and business schools around the world.

Customized programs, which are tailored for and offered to executives of a single company, represent the fastest growing segment of the market. Customized programs help organizations increase management capability by combining the science of business and performance management into specialized programs that enable executives to develop new knowledge, skills and attitudes. Knowledge translates into the capability an organization applies to the products and services it brings to the marketplace. Research shows that a firm with a clearly articulated and understood business and capability strategy will have a higher market-to-book value than a firm that does not.

Customized programs are in high demand as markets shift and organizations must develop and implement responsive business strategies.

Open enrollment programs also are available as part of university-based executive education offerings, which occur throughout the year on selected dates, and are available to participants from different companies and organizations.

Shorter executive education programs tend to focus on specific roles or industries, or on improving specific leadership skills, such as persuasion, negotiation, teambuilding or communication.

Among the most commonly offered subjects in executive education today are strategy, marketing, innovation, project management, and finance and accounting for non-financial managers.

Some executive education providers offer more comprehensive management training options, such as the modular "Advanced Management Program" (AMP) offered independently by several business schools, including Harvard Business School, INSEAD, London Business School and the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School.

University-based executive education programs, and customized programs in particular, include serious engagement among executives, senior business faculty and researchers who are on the leading edge of current business thought and management theory development. It has been noted that “executive education is the toughest classroom there is” because time-pressed and demanding executives challenge each other in the classroom as much or more as their professors. The programs are credited with offering unique networking and personal career development opportunities for participants, as well as opportunities for universities to build stronger alumni networks that also benefit younger, traditional MBA program graduates through networking, internships and job opportunities.

Not all observers of university-based executive education are positive. There is some debate about the nature of business school education as a form of professional development. Some believe that university-based executive education has caused some business schools to "lose track of their professional mission." This argument is made by Rakesh Khurana among others.