Studying for an MBA online gives you flexibility. With the ESMT Berlin Global Online MBA, you’ll also gain a community where collaboration builds confidence, these three graduates say.
The ESMT Berlin Global Online MBA offers online study that makes a difference. The schedule works around yours, so that you can get the most out of the program, alongside work, family, and community commitments. You can complete the program in the standard 24 months, or take up to five years to do so.
“The biggest challenge for me [in studying for an MBA] was the time management,” shares Fulco Wijdooge, who is from the Netherlands but lives and works in China. “ You already have a busy schedule with your work. You have to put it in perspective, also together with your family. So I studied the online MBA at ESMT.” (01:19)
Founded by 25 major companies and triple-accredited, you can be confident in the value of an ESMT Berlin Global Online MBA degree.
The program enables you to study at your own pace and on your own terms. First, you complete the introductory module, called Management in a Connected World (7 weeks, 3 ECTS). Thereafter, you can complete the four compulsory modules in any order. Once you’ve completed one of those, such as Making Wiser Decisions Under Uncertainty, you can start electives.
That flexibility doesn’t mean you’ll be studying in isolation. Every module has live online sessions. Each course offers three hours of live online modules, called ‘Professor Sessions’. Additionally, there are live office hour modules, called ‘Tutor Sessions’. Both sessions are offered twice to accommodate all time zones. There, you’ll engage with faculty and classmates from around the world in real time.
Online MBA programs offer flexibility, but they should also deliver valuable skills and knowledge for your next career step. The ESMT Berlin Global Online MBA has the right combination. The program, known as GOMBA, is challenging and practical, students say.
“I think it has a problem-solving DNA,” says Lyn Liu, a Team Leader in Procurement at Siemens, Shanghai in China. “After many years in the corporate world, I felt if I could find better solutions and answers, I could make things better. The ESMT’s GOMBA program stood out.” (0:04)
Lyn found what she was looking for. “I found many courses are academically robust and immediately applicable.” (01:04)
Alongside the core modules, the ESMT Global Online MBA curriculum offers Technology and Innovation electives and Global Experience electives. The Technology and Innovation electives center on Embracing Technological Change, Negotiations, and Business Sustainability.
Fulco particularly appreciated that aspect of the program. “It triggered my entrepreneurial mindset,” he shares. “It really helped me to get to the next stage in my career.” (01:10)
As part of the Global Experience set of electives, you can choose to spend an intensive week at the school’s campus in Berlin, Germany. Or spend a week in another study destination such as Shanghai, China’s largest city and a global financial hub. Destinations are chosen from among more than 30 members of the Global Network for Advanced Management (GNAM).
Collaborating effectively across cultures and geographies is an essential skill in an increasingly digital global economy. During the ESMT Global Online MBA program, you’re learning that in real time. And applying it in real life.
“The most precious experience for me throughout the whole journey is really this different time zone collaboration,” says Yuna Yu, a Team Leader at the Bank of East Asia. “For me to work in a big bank, we have over 10,000 people globally. Communication-wise, it’s always a struggle, but through this course, you can deal with the problem directly and put it into real-life work.” (00:39)
Yuna found that collaborating across the globe while studying translated directly into greater effectiveness at work.
If you take advantage of the study week in Berlin or another destination, you’ll get the opportunity to get to know your faculty and fellow students. Not to mention the chance to explore a new culture.
Similarly, if you live and work in Berlin or near ESMT’s branch campus in Shanghai, you can attend local events. Cross-cultural conversations are a hallmark of ESMT Berlin programs.
“Mingling with so many people, with entrepreneurs, with engineers, with brilliant professors, really helped me to boost my confidence,” says Fulco. (01:36) It sparked fresh ideas to imagine the next steps in his career.
Full-time MBA graduate Hillary Batchelder also experienced the confidence boost that comes from a strong community at ESMT Berlin.
Students say the ESMT Berlin Global Online MBA program built a community that supported their career goals. “It gave me the right knowledge and background to look beyond what I’m doing now,” says Fulco. (01:45)
Connecting with students and faculty from around the world was a real and unexpected benefit of the program, according to Lyn.
“The myth is that the online MBA is a solo expedition. But it is not, it’s not at all. It’s like a small UN,” Lyn explains. (01:50)
Fulco echoes that. “I have friends for life now, not only for Shanghai, where they have a great community, but also in other parts of the world. So I’m really, really happy to be part of this international community.” (01:58)
These three students took advantage of the enormous flexibility, intense collaboration, and strong community they found in the ESMT Berlin Global Online MBA program. They gained practical skills and knowledge they could implement immediately. It also enabled them to envision a new career path with confidence, with the backing of the community they’d built along the way.
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