MBA vs Executive MBA: Which is better for Professionals Program?

There are several ways to enhance one’s professional career. When it comes to advanced degrees, two great options are a MBA or an Executive MBA. The Full-time MBA programme is meant for fresh graduates or graduates with less than five years of work experience. The Executive MBA (EMBA) programme is usually a one year programme which is typically part time. This is meant for professionals who have more than five years of work experience as managers or others.

Many working professionals usually have trouble deciding whether to do 1 year Executive MBA program or a regular full time two year MBA program. Choosing between a MBA and an EMBA may depend on your career goals. Professionals with 5 years experience or more may find EMBA would be a better option and to be more rewarding. Let us look at why EMBA is a better option for working professionals.

The entry requirements for both the courses are different. For a fresh graduate or a graduate with less than five years of work experience, a full time two-year regular MBA programme would be useful. However, for a working professional with more than five years of work experience as an executive, an EMBA programme would be a more relevant MBA programme for such professionals.

Duration: EMBA degrees are minimum 1 year courses and the mode of offering is part time or distance/online. Regular MBA degrees are 2 year courses and the mode of offering is full time, thus making it difficult for an established working professional to pursue full-time regular MBA. Hence, if a professional wants to do an MBA in a shorter period of time, then EMBA is the most suitable option for such a professional.

Timings of classes: A regular MBA is a full-time course with classes scheduled for the entire day. EMBA classes, on the other hand, are scheduled at convenient timings so that a working professional can pursue the course without having to compromise on his work timings. EMBA classes usually take place in the evenings or in the weekends, thereby giving the professional ample space to pursue his/her professional goals.

Objectives: The main objective of a regular full time MBA is to train a student to become an efficient manager. However, the objective of EMBA is to help a student reach executive level positions in a company. Since a working professional is already a well-established manager, he need not waste his/her time doing a regular MBA course. He can opt for EMBA and strive to reach executive level positions.

Electives: In a regular MBA course, there is usually a narrower assortment of electives to choose from. However, in EMBA, there exists a wide range of electives to choose from. This is why EMBA is better for professionals. Due to the existence of a lot of electives, a working professional can choose exactly in which area he/she wants to develop knowledge in.

Fees & Sponsorship: One of the biggest advantages of doing EMBA is that a lot of times the EMBA courses are sponsored by the company you work for. After graduation, if you get into a good company and work hard and prove yourself in that company, you will get the opportunity to do EMBA that is sponsored by the company. Certain years of bonds are usually imposed when the company sponsors higher education, thereby giving you job security for the duration of the bond.

Hence you can see that for a working professional, EMBA is the best higher education option. An EMBA would give you much more professional maturity and a better position. Always, an educated person with rich experience is the most preferred everywhere, and students of EMBA fall in that category. All the best!