McGill MBA program offers unprecedented flexibility and international exposure

For an intensive three-week summer session, McGill MBA students are joined by MBA Japan students who fly in from Tokyo. Both groups are experienced professionals who pursue their McGill MBA within two years while maintaining their full-time jobs. "The international perspective of our MBA colleagues is very enriching. Working in teams with students from different cultures may be a little uncomfortable at first, but one quickly sees the value of building this cross-cultural capacity — and global network. This is what the business world today is all about," says Joseph McCarthy, Delivery Project Executive at IBM Global Services.

Students from Japan are enrolled in the McGill MBA Japan program, offered in Tokyo. "Working in teams with students from Montreal brings a whole different perspective to the classroom. We all learn tremendously from our peers' business realities. When we have more personal reflections and discussions, on leadership for example, it amazes me to see that we share many similarities," says Timothy Iwata, CFO, Japanese Equity Business at J.P. Morgan in Tokyo.

"The McGill MBA Program offers a whole range of formats to suit students' needs: full-time, part-time, executive-format (MBA3), and MBA Japan in Tokyo," explains Alfred Jaeger, Associate Dean, MBA Program. "No matter what format of MBA they are enrolled in, all students learn with the same core of highly respected faculty members, and obtain a global perspective from students and faculty members hailing from every corner of the world. They also have the flexibility to switch to a different format at the end of their first year, should their evolving career situation require it."

Joseph McCarthy is enrolled in the MBA3 program (MBA Cubed). Launched in July 2002, this unique format draws from the most positive elements of current MBA models in order to provide choice, speed and flexibility. It offers the content of a full-time MBA with the delivery format of an executive MBA. Students complete the program in two years, while maintaining full-time employment. Unlike other executive MBA programs, where all students follow the same courses, MBA3 students can choose from any of eight concentrations in their second year, and attend some of their classes with other full-time and part-time MBA students.

"MBA3 has been specifically developed in response to feedback from the business community. Its flexibility, design and in-depth scope of study allow working managers to best leverage both their learning experience and personal time," says Derek Hart, co-director of the MBA3 program.

This flexibility offers numerous advantages: the MBA3 students take some courses with the highly diverse full-time group (54% come from abroad) and get an international perspective from the program, while full-time students appreciate the more in-depth work experience of the MBA3 students. Students from all groups praise the richness of the global network they build while doing their MBA at McGill.