Open the door to more with an Executive MBA

Business never goes out of style

The Executive Master of Business Administration

A Harvard-style program, each course favours face-to-face delivery in small classes with weekly evening sessions and monthly weekend intensives. 

You can complete your degree in as little as 18 months. 

Highly recommended by the Graduation Management Association of Australia, the EMBA is also one of Australia’s only MBA programs where 100% of staff have current business experience.

Each semester takes place in the Adelaide Business School—ranked one of the top schools for career impact in The Australian Financial Review’s Best Business Schools 2023. The EMBA itself is regarded as the #1 MBA in South Australia for career impact. 

A big reason for this is our unique emphasis on practical learning. 

Businesses hire for experience. Businesses benefit from experience. 

An Executive Master of Business Administration at the University of Adelaide will give you that experience—hands-on.

Gain Professional Experience While You Learn

Any seasoned business professional will tell you: Nothing makes an impression like meeting in person. As a result, the EMBA is as close as you’ll get to being in the boardroom.

Take the ‘Marketing for Leaders’ course, for example. Emphasising hands-on projects, a selection of actual case studies enhance your problem-solving by immersing you in real-world decision-making.

It’s one of many rigorous warm-ups before the big game: The Enterprise Project. 

The Enterprise Project is a Capstone course that places you within an organisation of your choice.

There, you’ll apply your learnings to help solve real business problems. Our industry partners include everything from government to private enterprise to not-for-profits, representing a unique opportunity to gain professional experience while building networks in your preferred industry. 

Think of it as the internship of internships.

Upskill To The Next Level

Six months before coming to study with us, deployment manager Alfred Carlson had applied for an executive role within his current company. He didn’t quite have right skillset in place, but his company recognised his potential and offered to pay for further education. 

He chose the EMBA. 

“Everyone can get something out of it immediately for their own work,” Carson says. “There’s additional knowledge to be learned from your peers as well as the actual teachings of the class. Everyone’s perspective on things is slightly different. With the tools from the EMBA, I have a better perspective to be able to make decisions that are beneficial for my company, but also beneficial for the people around me. We don’t want to just focus on profits and have unhappy employees.” 

Become A Future CEO

A glimpse into Carlson’s bright future is to be seen in the present of Nova Systems co-founder and South Australia’s first Chief Entrepreneur, Jim Whalley—one of the Adelaide Business School’s most vaunted alumni. 

“The EMBA was life-changing for me, it was absolutely fabulous. I really enjoyed a lot of the strategy units, I enjoyed the entrepreneurship unit that probably led to where I am now and I think one of the great values of doing the program was the interaction with my fellow students. I made some great friends and without the program, Nova Systems would not exist.”

Meet Industry Experts And Build Your Network

“What sets us apart is the face-to-face nature of the education. The EMBA is about knowledge and network,” says Bowman. “The quality of the people in the class contribute to the quality of the knowledge that you get as a student as well. The calibre of students that we get here and the quality of the alumni is second to none.”

Mentorship, intensive workshops and guest lectures from industry leaders are essential to building your acumen and savvy. Each course features them heavily in a live and engaging setting.

The EMBA Mentor Program, for example, will pair you directly with our most distinguished alumni and corporate partners.

“One of the big decisions I had to make when I decided to do an MBA was: Do I do it online?” recalls part-time student and Department of Energy and Mining senior case manager, Corri Baker. “I asked a lot of questions of people that have done MBAs before. One of the main things that everyone came back with was that it really adds to the experience and the value to do it in person. I’m glad that I made that decision. The depth of knowledge and experience and learning from others is so much richer.”

“The EMBA is something that students want to be in the classroom for,” Bowman says.

Make Business Matter

Every successful businessperson has a purpose—and we want you to find yours.

As you soak up the essential skills imparted by courses like Fundamentals of Leadership, Managing Organisational Behaviour and Innovation and Entrepreneurship, you’ll also discover something: 

Meaning. 

“I’ve seen a lot more people thinking less about what they can get personally from an MBA and more about what they can do with an MBA,” says Bowman. “People are starting to realise that they want to enjoy their careers and create a positive impact, and the MBA is something that gives them confidence and clarity around what they ultimately want to achieve in life.”
Making a social impact matters. Furthering equality, reducing emissions and increasing efficiency have emerged as chief concerns for many prospective students considering an EMBA at the University of Adelaide. We agree: The shape of business to come is creating responsible change. Environmental, social and governance practices are as commonly discussed in our lecture halls as they are integral to Australian businesses.

“ESG has become a cross-cutting theme that features in almost every one of our courses,” Bowman says. “We’re also seeing lots of students with a passion for the voluntary sector that are using their studies to further endeavours beyond their regular work.”

Take Your Biggest Step Yet

“It’s a successful program and everyone that we have going through it tends to succeed and perform exceptionally well afterwards,” says Bowman. 

Take your biggest step yet in global business education. 

Inquire today