The University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Graduate School of Business (GSB) Executive MBA (EMBA) programme has been recognised as the best in Africa and ranked in the top 50 in the world in the 2019 Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Global EMBA Rankings.
GSB acting director Professor Kosheek Swechurran explains that the academic programme offered is unique when compared to other EMBA degrees, describing it as “one of a kind”.
“We’ve really pushed the boundaries of what business education can be. In a sense we have been the pedagogical equivalent of a venture capitalist – investing in our own ideas to build a degree that is truly distinctive,” he says.
In order to determine the ranking of each school, QS ranking compiles data from thought leaders in business and management, analyses each business school’s reputation in terms of academic offering and global employers along with the demographics of the EMBA unit and other programme-specific indicators.
The local university’s School of Business MBA degree has been placed 46 out of 50 in the world. The number one university offering an EMBA degree for 2019 is Penn (Wharton), located in Philadelphia in San Francisco, the United States.
UCT’s EMBA alumnus Paxton Anderson says that the GSB’s degree provides “a more experiential, emergent style of thinking, and exposes students to different ways of viewing the world.”
Many graduates and alumni from the GSB program are now running successful businesses across the continent in fields that are complex and highly innovative. One graduate, Phathizwe Malinga, is currently the chief executive of SqwidNet, the licensed network operator for Sigfox in South Africa.
Malinga says the the degree equipped him with the skills to take on a leadership position. “It gave me the confidence to navigate complex problems with integrity and humility. I learned that there are many truths and I no longer feel the need to always be right. I have learned to listen.”
Other graduates include Buhle Goslar, now chief customer officer at JUMO, a financial technology platform.
Prof. Sewchurran says the programme is focused on character development as a foundation in an effort to prepare students for the real world.
“The EMBA challenges students with the realities of leading in a complex world. To navigate this world, they need to be able to reflect on their context and who they are, in order to make sense of where they have come from and step boldly towards the future.”
Picture: University of Cape Town, GSB