How do the Executive MBA students differ from the full-time students?
The EMBA students are ready to take what they’ve learned and run with it the next day. When you teach the full-time program, you know you’re teaching the future business leaders of the world, but there will be a significant time lag. You are giving them the key fundamentals to help them, and hopefully will keep them learning throughout their careers, but it’s going to be a while before you see the true impact.
With EMBA students, that’s just not true. You see it immediately. They come back into the classroom with the excitement of having seen something work. It keeps the engine running. I always say walking into that classroom is like turning the key of a Ferrari. You just start up the class and it takes off. We get together as in a lab to see how we can use business knowledge to make their dreams and ideas come true.
How is a change in curriculum considered and how do you determine which direction to go?
People always say change in a university is like moving a graveyard. It happens very slowly and painfully. In my first few years with UCLA, curriculum changes were tortuous. Any potential changes went through many faculty and committee discussions. By the time we thought about it and went through all the machinations, it was often too late for a change to be effective and keep up with the evolving business world. Over time, we, like other businesses, realized that was not going to work.
There are still times when the faculty is not happy about a change because they get comfortable with what they are doing. But we all appreciate that innovative spirit and the thought that the program needs to evolve.
You don’t think about academics as innovative rebels, but there are a few. We’ve been lucky to have them in the right place at the right time.
Carol Scott is faculty director of the executive program and professor of marketing at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. Reach her at (310) 825-4458 or [email protected].
