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Executive' Degree The by Sharon Shinn illustration by Paine Proffit E MBA material and starting to resemble nondegree executive courses, EMBA administrators are constantly fine-tuning their content and their formats to suit their changing customer base. Among the forces re-shaping their programs are globalization, technology, and a new student demographic. Today's EMBA tends to be shorter, more modular, and more geared to the globe-trotting executive than ever before—but that doesn't mean it's easy either to earn the degree or to run the program. xecutiveMBA programs are among themost visible and prof- itable programs offered by business schools worldwide. That very success has led to intense scrutiny as news media have begun to rank EMBA programs and critics have started to question how well the degrees are delivered. Amid charges that EMBA programs are watering down Who Writes the Check? The biggest overall change in EMBA programs is that fewer students are receiving corporate sponsorship for their degrees. "Years ago, executives could only get into the programif they were sponsored," says JamesM. Parker, associate professor of marketing and director of the executiveMBA program at the Lubin School of Business, Pace University, New York City. "Most schools dropped that requirement because they real- ized there was a whole group of professionals, like entrepre- neurs and doctors, who didn't have corporate sponsorship. Even then, roughly 80 percent of the participants still were sponsored by corporations, and 20 percent were self-pays. That number has gone down considerably." Indeed it has. Just from 2001 to 2003, according to sur- veys conducted by the Executive MBA Council, the number s EMBA programs are quickly adjusting to satisfy the new consumer—a demanding, international, self-sponsored executive who's always on the go. of students fully funded by their corporations has dropped from 44 percent to 38 percent. In the same period of time, the percentage of students paying their own way has risen from 19 percent to 24 percent. Those in the middle receive a wide variety of funding support from their employers. Why the change? Some ascribe it to the rocky economy. corporations are starting to question how valuable an EMBA program ends up being for the company. Either it doesn't improve the employee's skill appreciably enough to justify the cost—or it improves an employee somuch he takes a job else- where. "That's the fault of the corporations," says Parker. "Sometimes they sponsor a person but they don't have a pro- motion or a career plan in place. And the individual says, 'What am I doing here?' and walks." That's true, agrees Paul Bishop, program director for the "Companies were using an executiveMBA as a way to single out and reward high-potential executives," says Parker. "They'd say, 'You've got a future here, and we're going to help you pay for that by sponsoring you with an executive MBA. You were chosen out of the ranks!' It was a retention tool.Now the economy is very different.Most companies say, 'We just have to give people a job and they'll stay.'" Parker thinks it's also possible, and more troubling, that Ivey Executive MBA, Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario in Canada. "Unfortunately, many EMBA students leave their employers," he says. "A lot of job offers come from within the class. A job opens up in somebody's company, and he recruits his friends." Whatever the reason, business schoolsmust figure out how to attract and satisfy private individuals who decide to pursue BizEd JULY/AUGUST 2004 31