IE Launches Tech Lab to Focus on Future MBA Jobs

A Tech Lab that focuses on jobs of the future is the latest innovation brought to the MBA program by the Madrid-based IE Business School, says Francisco Chabran, IE NYC Center Director.

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.