Edinburgh Business School launches full time MBA programme with a focus on Entrepreneurship

Edinburgh Business School, the Graduate School of Business of Heriot-Watt University in the UK, is launching a full-time one-year MBA programme with a focus on entrepreneurship.

This unique programme, which will run from September 2017, offers a host of exciting initiatives including an intensive, six-week study seminar in Dubai, company visits, guest speakers, and a final elective where students develop an investor-ready business plan. Students will also benefit from one-to-one business mentoring while developing their plan.

Edinburgh Business School pioneered the distance-learning MBA worldwide, enabling thousands of MBA students to complete their studies in their own time and at their own pace.

The new full-time MBA is an exciting addition to the school’s existing portfolio of masters programmes and also benefits from one fully-funded scholarship for an exceptional female applicant.

The MBA has always been popular in India by independent study, boasting 233 graduates and 87 students to date, but now students can undertake the MBA focussing on entrepreneurship, on a one-year, full-time basis in Edinburgh and Dubai.

It will attract entrepreneurs keen to launch their own businesses, and those who want to be more creative and adventurous within their organisations, offering specialist electives in ‘Entrepreneurship and Creativity’ and ‘Entrepreneurial Venturing’.

Professor Heather McGregor, Executive Dean of Edinburgh Business School, has developed a series of masterclasses focussing on personal skills development exclusively for the programme:  “The full-time MBA will not only stimulate creativity and entrepreneurialism, but will also encourage and support students as they increase their global network of contacts, helping to give their businesses a competitive advantage.

“Our students will be visiting companies both in the UK and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), giving them a valuable insight into business issues from the vantage point of two different cultures,” she said.

“The Edinburgh Business School network boasts more than 11,000 students and over 20,000 graduates so students will also have the opportunity to create their own ‘social capital’ across diverse and dynamic industries, people and cultures.”

Professor McGregor headed her own international executive search company for 15 years before joining Edinburgh Business School in September 2016. She is widely respected as a strong champion of diversity in the workplace and was awarded a CBE in June 2015 for services to business, with a particular focus on employment skills and diversity.

She was a co-founder of the 30% Club which campaigns to increase the number of women on company boards, and founded the award-winning Taylor Bennett Foundation programme, helping to promote the employment of ethnic minority graduates in the workplace.

In recognition of the shortage of top women business leaders worldwide, Edinburgh Business School is offering one female applicant a fully-funded place on the new full-time MBA programme.

The scholarship is being offered in conjunction with the 30% Club, and full details and application details can be found at https://www.ebsglobal.net/about-us/a-business-and-a-charity/scholarships-and-bursaries

Dr Shyamala Lakshmi Rao is a dedicated professional with a clear career ambition – to become the Medical Director or CEO of a hospital. To enable her to achieve this goal she’s undertaken the Edinburgh Business School MBA programme at Heriot-Watt University Malaysia’s Putrajaya campus.

Dr Rao, an Indian national who studied medicine at the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research in Pondicherry, is currently the Senior Manager in charge of Medical Services at Prince Court Medical Center in Kuala Lumpur. Dr Rao travelled to Scotland to graduate at Heriot-Watt’s Edinburgh campus in June 2016:

“I wanted to graduate in Edinburgh because I wanted to see the ‘mother ship’,” she said. “The ceremony was very special to me as it was the culmination of so much hard work and sacrifices made. To share it with others who went through the same was awesome.”

“I’m certainly hoping for a career progression as a result of my studies. Adding an MBA to my CV enables me to explore options, as the combination of being a medical doctor with an MBA opens up many opportunities.”

“As I have years of experience it was easy for me to take what I have learned and apply it to various areas of my work. I’ve learned to see things, not only from the point of view of a doctor, but from the opposite side of management and have really been able to develop my departments in a more focussed way,” she says.

For more information about the new full-time MBA with an entrepreneurial focus from Edinburgh Business School please see: https://www.ebsglobal.net/programmes/full-time-mba-edinburgh

Date: May 10, 2017