IT IS oft said by business leaders that there are many opportunities in a downturn - and this seems true even in education. As the economy slows, senior executives and managers in companies may be feeling the urge to go back to school.

TRAINING TIME 'MORE people are self-sponsored, and using this quiet period to reposition their skills over the next 18 months.' Mr Edward Buckingham, director of EMBA programmes at French business school Insead ... more

Enter the Executive Master of Business Administration, or EMBA. The programme is seeing a surge in popularity as managers try to upgrade themselves on the company payroll. Most EMBA applicants are partly, if not fully, sponsored by their companies.

There are two opposing forces at work, say business schools here.

While a slowdown in the economy translates to a smaller training budget, it also means there is more time to get the training done.

Although companies are cutting costs, 'counteracting that is upper and middle management who want to do the EMBA programme while they still have job security', said Dr Nilanjan Sen, associate dean of Nanyang Executive Education at Nanyang Technological University's Nanyang Business School. He added: 'They couldn't come earlier because of lack of time. Now that things are slower, they have more opportunity.' Dr Sen said applications for Nanyang's EMBA programmes have surged by around 25 per cent this year.

Mr Edward Buckingham, director of EMBA programmes at French business school Insead, which has a campus in Singapore, agreed: 'There are counter-cyclical elements that manifest themselves in different ways.

'More people are self-sponsored, and using this quiet period to reposition their skills over the next 18 months.'

An EMBA programme can take about 15 to 21 months, depending on the school you go to, and can take you around the world. For example, the University of Chicago Booth School of Business' programme is taught in Chicago, London and Singapore, while Insead's programme is taught in Singapore, Fontainebleau and Abu Dhabi.

Every six to eight weeks, they take about one week off work to attend class. Then they head back to the office to immediately try out some of the concepts they have learnt. 'We call it sandwich learning, where your work is your laboratory,' said Mr Buckingham. Classes are also intimately sized, and are typically made up of middle to upper management employees of both large and small companies, and entrepreneurs.

Said Mr Bill Kooser, associate dean at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business: 'Our executive students are significantly older, with more experience than our full-time students. 'They are now reaching a point in their careers where they are required to take on broad, general management responsibilities (and) need exposure to all facets of business, from strategy to marketing to operations and finance.'

Please read the full story in Monday's edition of The Straits Times

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