The GEMBA Experience

Program Overview

GEMBA is a 19-month program leading to the Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from Duke University. During the program, students convene with Fuqua’s world-class faculty at sites in North America, Europe, Asia and South America.

Between residential sessions, Fuqua’s faculty delivers the balance of the instruction using interactive, distance-education technology that complements and extends the classroom experience. As students gain experience in the use of information technology, they develop an understanding of how this technology can and should be used to manage global organizations.

While maintaining a high level of productivity in the workplace, these managers study the full range of material contained in a top-ranked MBA program. They learn the core functional areas of business, as well as how to integrate them and how to think and manage globally. Moreover, because they interact with an international network of classmates, GEMBA students are exposed to a wealth of ideas and approaches to each topic studied.

Structural Highlights

• 19-month academic program
• 5 modules (terms), with 3 courses per module
• 11 weeks of residential education on 4 continents
• 50 weeks of Internet-mediated learning

Program Goals: Providing Business Skills for the 21^st Century

The overall objective of the Global Executive MBA program is to develop managers who will excel within globally oriented organizations. More than any other executive MBA program in the world today, GEMBA delivers the skills that global managers will need in the next century, including:

• Integrated knowledge of the core disciplines of business. The curriculum contains all the fundamental business courses found in Fuqua’s other MBA programs.
• Understanding of the cross-cultural dimensions of global business. Our faculty incorporate international issues throughout course topics, assignments and class discussions. Courses are aimed at understanding common business issues from a global management perspective and build upon the practical experience of participants.
• The ability to work effectively in a multinational, team-based environment. There is special emphasis on team-oriented learning and on developing team-driven organizations. This includes teams in dispersed locations and inter-organizational structures.
• Expertise in using information technology in management. Students use cutting-edge communications technology to learn, share ideas and work together. A key goal of the program is to provide students with firsthand experience in using technology to manage work across barriers of time and space.

Because GEMBA is built on the existing strengths of Fuqua’s internationally renowned full-time MBA program, students develop a strong "Team Fuqua" identity. Despite their geographic dispersal, their sense of connection to the School and membership in the Fuqua academic community is reinforced by regular contact through intensive residential sessions and interactive distance learning.

"...The materials and resources are world-class, and the content is very relevant. From understanding and debating real-time global economic shocks and their myths, to financial valuation and hedging strategies in play in the market, to developing a marketing campaign for your firm, the GEMBA program is laid out very well. Each day I see something transpire in my firm that I now understand better, and I'm more prepared to make informed decisions..."

John Madigan ’98
Manager, Worldwide Product Planning/Development
IBM Corporation Research Triangle Park
North Carolina, USA

 

"Globalization and advances in information technology are transforming the MBA programs in many U.S. business schools. The most talked-about example is the 19-month Global Executive MBA launched in 1996 by Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business."

The Times (of London)
January 1998