St. Gallen: Part-time MBA in demand

The Swiss-based University of St. Gallen, which runs the PLD with the Spanish business school Esade, actually wanted to fill a gap between the short Executive Education programs and the comprehensive and expensive MBA program. This is why the program is comprised of merely 38 instruction days, divided into three- to five-day modules in Barcelona, St. Gallen, Munich and Berlin, and costs 26,000 euros. The program culminates in a “Diploma in continuing education.”

Then the offer was expanded. Those who fulfill the admission requirements can extend the PLD to an MBA and participate in the newly-designed part-time MBA. The main attraction: Participants attend their elective courses together with the predominantly international students in the university’s full-time MBA program and thus expand their inter-cultural experiences.

The new option is attracting an unexpectedly high level of interest. Three-quarters of all PLD participants want to continue. “An Executive Education course is simply too little for many in the current job market,” says Rob Straw, head of the MBA branch at the University of St. Gallen.

Only those who already have a first academic degree however will be accepted. “It’s compulsory,” explains Straw. “There are no exceptions.” In contrast, a specific amount of professional experience is not set.

The additional fee for the two-year part-time MBA is 16,000 euros. Structured in stages, the format also enables companies to indirectly support their employees in the MBA program. The company pays the PLD and employees pay the additional fee for the MBA.

www.unisg.ch