Hello,


Thanks for this useful website and forum!


I'm looking for an executive MBA based on the following criteria:


- not too far away from Belgium

- very high quality teaching

- triple accreditation

- international focus/cohort

- strong leadership/soft skills development

- active alumni network

- no excessive fees


What do you think about EDHEC, Vlerick and ESSEC & Mannheim?


Any other suggestion?


Vlerick is a very good business school, with a strong alumni network in Belgium, but their EMBA isn't in any ranking. Is it a bad signal?

Is the double degree of ESSEC & Mannheim a real added value?


Many thanks for your help!

[Edited by aloxe on Jul 09, 2022]

All strong options. Vlerick is deeply Flemish. Check out the FT executive education rankings for a useful view. Essec and Mannheim are powerful networks if you do business in France and Germany. 

Thanks for your quick reply.

What do you mean by deeply Flemish?

I checked the rankings, and the 4 schools are in good place. But in EMBA specific rankings, Vlerick is far below the others two programmes :

FT EMBA:
ESSEC & Mannheim = 41
EDHEC = 55
Vlerick = NA

The Economist:
ESSEC & Mannheim = 12
EDHEC = 17
Vlerick = NA

QS:
ESSEC & Mannheim = 11 in joint programmes (score 78)
EDHEC = 41 (score 63)
Vlerick = 101-150 (score below 50)

Am I paying too much attention to rankings??

The Vlerick school is headquartered in Flanders, the Belgian region occupied by the Flemish people. I mean that school is deeply rooted in the culture of the Flemish region, and more broadly of the Benelux countries. 

Of the criteria you are looking for, triple accreditation is not a good filter, Stanford and Harvard or Oxford, INSEAD, LBS do not need triple accreditation.

Also while I understand for logistical reason, being in Belgium is convenient but an EMBA is about networking very important for strategy role.
The Vienna program is very decent priced and also triple accreditation 

https://executiveacademy.at/en/landing/global-executive-mba

CEU is not bad either

http://emba.ceu.edu/, I am very impressed with the faculty. The data/finance intensive track is very interesting.

The Israel Kellogg is also interesting https://en-coller.tau.ac.il/kr-emba

And if you think triple accreditation is so important and closed to Belgium Rotterdam has been respectable for many years. Vlerick has measured itself against RSM since its inception. RSM has been the most established MBA program in Netherlands Belgium region 

https://www.rsm.nl/education/mba/executive-mba/