Hi,

An advise needed for my profile. I am a 35 yrs old engineer currently based in Dubai and working in the renewable energy industry in a senior project management role. I am trying to tap into higher level roles like VP, Executive Director, etc... which is my next logical step but perhaps needs some profile polishing.

I have an Australian PR which I believe I will have to relocate temporary to Australia for work in the next couple years but my long term plan is to return to the middle east.

Interested more into Executive MBA's or Global MBA option which can allow me to keep working. Insead & LBS are the best here but my budget is USD 50K - 70K, so I have been considering few schools including:

1. IE Executive or Global MBA
2. WU Academy Professional MBA - Energy Management Track
3. AGSM - MBAX then perhaps join the 2nd year as executive.
4. ESCP Europe Executive MBA
5. Warwick DL MBA
6. Asian schools like CEIBS, etc...
7. Imperial Global DL

Shall I start with any of these schools or wait couple of more years to increase my budget and join a tier 1 school. I am quite worried that I will be around early 40's after graduation shall I take this option and might miss some opportunities that could be pursued now shall I have the degree already.

If there are other schools which are recommended please advise.

[Edited by dzine on May 15, 2019]

If you plan on staying in the Middle East, maybe a program that's grounded in the region - like Cass' EMBA program in Dubai - might have better networking connections than the more distance learning-oriented programs.

Yes Cass was a school i considered but decided to rule it out just because I want to play it safe and focus on more reputed international schools. I am more impressed by the program and alumni profiles of IE Global EMBA plus the blended part fits me perfectly due to the nature of my work which requires remote locations sometimes. I don't want an entirely DL program rather than a nice balance between class and online.

That being said, I am quite not sure how is the reputation of IE GEMBA in the Middle east and Australia.

It won't be as well known and its alumni network won't be as well developed as a local school or a school that has a campus in the region.

Yes that's right. I spent some time researching the profiles on Linkedin school pages and apparently only INSEAD, LBS, AGSM and Melbourne have the vast majority of alumni networks. Now I shortlisted EMBA from LBS and MBS as my first two options followed by AGSM. INSEAD is just too expensive and requires about 55 days away from office which I cannot afford.

You can't go wrong with the LBS program!