Sharpening the executive mind: the continuing education of top executives has become a priority for Latin American corporations as they grow in the global marketplace. A review of top programs

Latin CEO: Executive Strategies for the Americas, July, 2001 by Rochelle Broder-Singer

Florida International University

(Miami, Florida, US)

FIU's Global Executive MBA is an Internet-focused experience. During the 5 one-week residencies at Miami's Biltmore Hotel Conference Center of the Americas, the 20-25 students are constantly plugged into the Internet. During the weeks of the 13-month program when students are not in Miami, they meet for class online at specific times to participate in discussions and lectures. The US$45,000 (includes room and board) Global eMBA is specifically designed for managers with five to eight years of international Latin American management experience, and has attracted executives from the Latin American divisions of companies such as Monsanto, Xerox, Feld and 3Com.

"We don't isolate e-business in a course," says Steve Beste, the program's director. "E-business has changed supply-chain management, it's changed marketing, all of the disciplines we teach. ... This Global Executive MBA program is an e-business ... so we think we're really further ahead than people who are just teaching it."

New York University Stern School of Business

(New York, US)

The inaugural classes of NYU Stern's GLOBE executive education program (US$20,000 for tuition and lunches) and Trium Executive MBA (US$87,500 for everything but airfare) start later this year. Students in the programs will meet with local business and political leaders and study with local faculty at NYU Stern, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, HEC Paris and Fundacao Getulio Vargas in Sao Paulo. Trium also includes a module at the London School of Economics and Political Science. GLOBE's four one-week modules, conducted over one year with a little Internet-based preparation in between, are directed at international managers with 10-15 years of professional experience, many of whom already have MBAs. The program focuses on hands-on applications. Trium's 16-month MBA program teaches theory and fundamentals through ten weeks on the various campuses and 300 hours of distance learning. Most Trium students also have 10-12 years of experience. With either program, says Associate Dean of Executive Programs Rosemar y Mathewson, "What [students] are getting, in addition to the technical understanding, is a real hands-on experience of what it's like to do business around the world."

University of Miami

(Miami, Florida, US)

UM's one-year Master of Science in Professional Management is taught in Spanish and designed for Latin American executives - this year's class has students from nine countries. One year of residential learning is compressed into five intense two-week sessions of two courses each. Classes run from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day, and evenings are spent in study groups. Paul Sugrue, Dean of the School of Business, says Miami is the perfect place for Latin American executives to study: It's easy to access, and everything from the food to the atmosphere has a familiar feel. Around 40 students are enrolled in the US$32,200 (including books and food) class, which has an average age of 40 and a minimum of eight years of business experience. There is no distance learning component to the degree. "They're getting the same classroom experience a student would get going to a full-time program," Sugrue says. "We feel that could never be replaced by any other type of program."