The Need for Tech MBA

“In a digital, interconnected world, companies need managers with the talent and training to promote technological innovation,” says Martin Boehm, Dean of the Madrid, Spain-based Business School.

“Technology rules our lives rules the world and accelerates our capacity for innovation. Areas such as data management, artificial intelligence or automation take centre stage in corporate strategy. Our Tech MBA will equip managers to propel their business into the future,” he adds.

Vice Dean Jose Esteves says, “Our Tech MBA will provide managers with strong leadership capacity and deep knowledge of the tech industry. The Tech MBA will develop their management training and help them navigate the current and future technological environment from a global corporate perspective. These leaders will be able to integrate technology into business strategy and processes.”

Tech MBA Program Details

The Tech MBA will be a full-time, one-year program at the School campus in Madrid with two annual intakes, in September and January.

The program will focus on three main areas, namely, Business Management, Technology Immersion and transformational leadership. It will also include three tracks in Digital Transformation, Data Analysis & Artificial Intelligence and Digital Finance.

It is divided into four periods, during which the participants will receive specialized training in different areas of technology. The first and second have an experimental learning approach, with a practical perspective on Fintech, Insuretech and Edutech, among other areas.

The third period includes specific technological tracks on digital transformation, data analysis and artificial intelligence and digital finance. The last track will include content on Fintech, Blockchain, Robotics Process Automation, Advanced Automatic Learning and Emerging Technologies.

At this stage, students have the option to strengthen their business skills or the tech side of their career, choosing from electives from the International MBA or the specialized Tech MBA.

They could also choose to participate in exchange programs with other schools such as Cornell University, NYU Stern School of Business or MIT, or participate in internship programs.

Tech MBA Eligibility Criteria

You must have a Bachelor’s degree in a STEM speciality: Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics. You should also have a minimum of 3 years of full-time work experience and also a demonstrable passion for technology and an understanding of the tech industry.

Tech MBA Admission Process

You must fill up all the required sections in the online application form and upload the supporting documents. These are the Bachelor degree certificate or equivalent in a STEM-related field; Official University transcripts (certified translation into English or Spanish).

English language certificate options are TOEFL (100 minimum), IELTS (7.0 minimum), Cambridge Advanced or Proficiency (C1 minimum), or Pearson Academic (73 minimum).

You should also submit a copy of DNI/NIE/Passport; Photograph; 1-2 page CV; 2 letters of recommendation; 2 essays. The Application fee is 125€ or 175€ if you are applying to 2 programs (fee is not refundable).

Once you submit your online application and pay the application fee, you will receive a link to answer three live questions, two in video format and one in written format. It enables the admissions team to meet you virtually and evaluate your capacity to respond in real-time.

You have to appear for GMAT, GRE or IEGAT with specific attention paid to the quantitative section of the exam.

Next step is a personal interview (face-to-face or via Skype) with an Associate Director of the Admissions Team. At this time, you will be asked to answer the following prompt: How will the skills learned in the TECH MBA program enable you to be successful in your future career plans?

After the interview, your entire application will be evaluated holistically by the Admissions Committee following which the Committee will contact you with the final decision.

Tech MBA Application Deadlines

Round 1 application deadline is November 4 with scholarship deadline on November 27 and the final decision by December 2-13. Round 2 application deadline will be January 7, scholarship deadline on March 4 and the final decision by March 16-27, 2020.

Round 3 application deadline will be March 2, scholarship deadline on April 22 and the final decision by May 11-22, 2020. Round 4 application deadline will be May 4. Scholarship deadline on June 10 and the final decision by June 22 to July 3, 2020. Round 5 is only for EU passport holders with the application deadline on July 6, scholarship deadline on July 6 and final decision by July 27-August 2020.

Tech MBA Program Fees

The Tech MBA tuition fee is 72.200€. Loans, IE Foundation scholarships, IE High Potential Awards are available for deserving candidates. The school also provides all the Tech MBA students with a payment plan option.

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IE offers a 1-year full-time Global MBA program designed for professionals looking to consolidate their management experience in the international arena. With a class size of 562, the program has 91% international students with an average age of 29 and work experience of 5 years.

In an interview published in the School’s MBA Insights blog, Chabran was asked about ‘the single most exciting development’ in the MBA program to which he responded by saying it was the Tech Lab based on popular demand by the students and recent hiring trends.

The Tech Lab will be the fourth lab for the MBA program. Chabran says the way the program is structured, the first 20 weeks are the core period, which all students are required to take.

“At IE, we know that no one becomes physically fit by going to the gym for a few days, and no professional should expect to be behaviourally fit by spending a few hours learning about skills like listening, teamwork or decision making. It takes focus and practice day after day, moment by moment,” 

After that, the students will be able to start customizing their MBA via the labs before the final electives period of the program.

The Tech Lab is aimed at providing the students with an in-depth understanding of critical aspects of how the new technologies work and what is behind them. The students will also deal with real-life examples of these new technologies.

They will be told about the advanced development and implementation of technology products. The students will also get opportunities for analysis and interpretation of the data and patterns that predict future technology trends.

For the final project, the students will propose a technological solution for problems that arise in distinct industries.

They will compete in teams to discover, develop and apply their proposed technological solution, defending their findings in front of a panel of judges, says Chabran.

Asked about one area of the program that applicants should know more about, he said it would be the Professional Fitness portion. This module contains two elements, Career Fitness and Behavioural Fitness.

The Career Fitness portion helps students identify and work toward their career goals in a workshop setting once a week during the core curriculum.

“I believe that this section of the program is essential in equipping students with the necessary tools to help them build a career strategy and succeed in an increasingly complex and competitive job market,” he says.

Chabran points out that the Career Fitness program focuses on 4 milestones, namely, Career Intelligence, Careers Tool Kit, Customizable labs and Active Recruitment.

He describes the Behavioural Fitness section as an integrated leadership training program designed to help develop a foundation of the critical behaviours necessary to support long-term professional success.

“At IE, we know that no one becomes physically fit by going to the gym for a few days, and no professional should expect to be behaviourally fit by spending a few hours learning about skills like listening, teamwork or decision making. It takes focus and practice day after day, moment by moment,” he says.

IE claims that the program is designed for those who can think outside the box and allows the students to tailor 40% of the program to fit in with their personal and professional goals. Encouraging participants to challenge conventional thinking, it also aims to increase their competitiveness and helps them act upon their ideas. It also emphasizes important universal skills, such as critical thinking, communication and collaboration.

The current cohort comprises 90% international students representing more than 70 nationalities. The class has 50% students who have neither business nor economics related degrees. The average age is 29 years with an average 5 years work experience.

The School says 90% of students found employment within 3 months after graduation. The more than 50 Company on-campus presentations in a year also help students develop a comprehensive understanding of the current business scenario and connect with prospective employers.

The program also features labs in business impact, start-ups and social impact. During the core period, there are mandatory ‘beyond business’ and entrepreneurial management courses.

The curriculum also includes courses in Innovation and Design, Critical Management Thinking and Entrepreneurship. The Core program has four distinct aspects, the first being developing an entrepreneurial mindset and entrepreneurial venturing.

The second is Mastering Business Fundamentals comprising Financial Accounting, Managerial Economics, Managerial Decision Making, Managerial Accounting and Corporate Finance.

The third is Integrating general Management Perspectives that has Marketing Management, Leading People & Teams, Strategy and Operations Management.

The fourth aspect, Thinking Beyond Business, comprises Innovation in a Digital World, Critical Management Thinking, Business, Government & Society.

After the Core Period, students could choose one of four options during the Lab Period depending on their professional goals. Some may want to create maximum impact within an existing company or start own business, create social impact or hope to gain work experience that could lead to a career change.

The Lab Period marks a disruptive approach to business education by fostering integrative thinking and experiential, project-based learning. The idea is to enrich the core curriculum with uniquely packaged, relevant and hands-on material not commonly found in an MBA curriculum.

The Business Impact Lab helps students focus on developing their integrative skills and cross-disciplinary management perspective to be ready to create real impact from day one in any organization they join post-MBA.

The lab period involves Corporate Innovation, Digital Transformation, Effective Execution, Critical Management Competencies and Corporate Challenge.

During the Corporate Challenge, you will put into practice the knowledge gained in both the Core Periods and the Lab Period by working with a company on a real-life challenge. Past challenges have focused on ways to innovate Airline Travel, Beer Culture and the Internet of Things.

In the Start-up Lab, students will be immersed in an incubator-like atmosphere together with other peers who want to start their own venture. In the Social Impact Lab, they will gain hands-on international consulting experience while also developing personal and professional leadership skills. In the IMBA in Practice, they will have the opportunity to participate in a minimum 7-week internship.

Among other options for students are dual degree programs, consulting projects, as many as150 electives to chose from, international exchanges, IE Venture Lab and language classes.

The School says 90% of students found employment within 3 months after graduation. The more than 50 Company on-campus presentations in a year also help students develop a comprehensive understanding of the current business scenario and connect with prospective employers. In addition, the students could get career advice from industry-specific advisors.

Funding to the tune of €4million is available for IE scholarship and fellowship awards. Almost 40% of applicants receive financial assistance.

Unlike the 2-year programs, the 1-year MBA allows participants to acquire an equivalent degree in half the time and cost. The lost opportunity cost of staying away from work for a full two years is also reduced. The 1-year graduates are also able to command the same starting salaries as for those in 2-year programs. Several schools even report that their 1-year MBAs make slightly more than the 2-year graduates, mostly due to differences in work experience.

1. INSEAD

INSEAD, With three fully-integrated campuses in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, and more than 90 different nationalities in the classroom, prides in referring to itself as the ‘Business School of the World’. It has maintained the top rank for the second year in succession in the FT Global MBA Ranking 2017.

It claims that the 10-month curriculum is aimed at developing successful, thoughtful leaders and entrepreneurs who create value for their organisations and their communities.

The Fontainebleau-based school in France, with campuses in Abu Dhabi and Singapore, boasts of a 53,784-strong alumni community of 159 nationalities spread over 170 countries with 47 Associations.

While the program Tuition fees for the July Class are set in December each year, fees for the December Class are announced in June. The current tuition fees for the class graduating in December 2018 are €80,800.

It covers the cost of all printed course materials, access to the INSEAD library, access to on-campus information technology services, language tuition and testing, student council fees, gym access, business cards, printing and health insurance.

2. London Business School

LBS claims to have the world’s most flexible MBA customised to suit the participant’s individual interests and career path. It has flexible exit points, core courses that can be tailored to individual needs, 70+ electives and applied learning opportunities.

The LBS MBA is not exactly of one-year duration. Its curriculum is such that can be tailored specifically to support individual career paths with a choice to finish the programme in 15, 18 or 21 months.

The tuition fees for the batch starting in August 2017 are £75,100 Fees include all tuition and required core course reading materials which may be provided electronically and/or in hard-copy. The fees also cover the flights and accommodation for the Global Business Experience.

The fee for 2017/18 session is £52,000. This includes: Course fee, College fee and the Life-long Oxford Union membership

When considering the cost of an MBA, take into account the potential earning opportunities of summer internships and the optional Business Project while studying.

3. Cambridge Judge Business School

The Cambridge Judge MBA is ranked 5^th by FT in 2017, up from the 9^th spot in the previous year. Its 1-year program offers in-depth learning and personalised career development services. The class size is kept at 170, an optimal number to enhance peer-to-peer learning. The program focuses on experiential learning, with two live client projects to enable global and cross-sector career mobility for the graduates.

The fees for the class of 2017/18 are £51,000 (includes the £2,470 college membership fee). There is also an application fee of £150. Additional costs would be in buying a laptop, a UK mobile phone or a bike and the like, travel expenses and utility bills for those opting to stay in private accommodation.

4. Oxford Said

Oxford Said claims that its MBA provides a solid grounding in the major business disciplines and core business skills. The faculty comprise world-class experts in their fields and they develop courses based on up-to-date best practice and the latest academic research.

The School also has an extended and strengthened talent development program. All MBA students will be provided with professional coaching and a suite of optional courses to help develop interpersonal, communication and team work skills.

The fee for 2017/18 session is £52,000. This includes: Course fee, College fee and the Life-long Oxford Union membership

Applicants who are offered and accept a place on the course are asked to pay a non-refundable deposit of £7,300 which will be offset against their course fee.

5. IE Business School

Participants at the Madrid-based IE Business School’s International MBA are in the average age group of 29 with 5 years average work experience. The program is designed for professionals looking to consolidate their management experience. Since the students come from different backgrounds and nations, a truly international experience is created allowing them to build a global network of contacts.

The IE International MBA tuition fee is 69.200€. The School also awards tuition funding assistance based on merit, distinctive competencies and academic excellence.

6. IMD

The IMD MBA is offered at the school’s campus in Lausanne, Switzerland. The 1-year program that runs from January to December is designed to ensure that the students master the fundamentals needed in business today and increase the self-awareness.

The Tuition fee is pegged at CHF 60,000 along with other fees amounting to CHF 25,000. The approximate living expenses for a single person will be CHF 36,000. This estimate includes housing: CHF 18,750 and living expenses: CHF 17,250. For those having not met the objectives of IMD’s pre-program self-assessment in Accounting and Finance, will need to complete a three-day immersion program at the start of January. The fee will be CHF 750.

7. Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management

Kellogg is one of the school’s in the US with an accelerated 1-year program that starts in June. According to the school, the program begins in summer to allow the students get accustomed to the rigorous academic pace of MBA studies and complete three to five courses. In September, they will join the second-year Full-Time Program class and complete the electives that match their interests and enhance career goals.

Apart from having a choice of 200 courses, the students could bypass core courses and focus on the electives that best meet their career goals. They could either delve into a select number of disciplines or go as broad as they like. The program fee is $ 95,156 with total estimated expenses that include room & board, books & supplies and travel pegged at $ 133,720.

8.Cornell SC Johnson College of Business

The 1-year program follows the same pattern as Kellogg’s kicking off in summer and completing three to four courses prior to joining the 2-year cohort in September to complete the electives. Here again, with a strong inclination towards Finance, qualified Chartered Financial Analyst, Certified Public Accountant, Institute of Chartered Financial Accountants (U.K. and India version of CPA), Society of Actuaries, Project Management Institute (PMP) are awarded credits at the start of the program.

Advanced degrees eligible for credit include, but are not limited to J.D., M.D., Meng, MHA, MPA, Med, M.A., M.S and PhD. The Tuition fee is $ 98,940.

9. University of Southern California Marshall School of Business

The 12-month program at USC’s Los Angeles Campus from July is designed for mid career professionals training for global leadership positions. The small class size is limited to 60 diverse and globally focused participants. The average age of participants is 35. The estimated total tuition and fees amount to $104,068 and estimated living expenses will be $35,000.

10. F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College

Babson’s accelerated one-year MBA program requires what the school calls “a substantial academic background in business.”

Long known as a top place to study entrepreneurial thinking, brings in nearly 80 students a year to its one-year program, about half the size of its more traditional two-year MBA.

With a high percentage of one-year students, about 46% from outside the U.S., the student body is more global than most.  The Tuition is pegged at $80,167 and Total Estimated Cost: $116,747.