Companies Turn Down the Funding Tap for Executive MBAs

As the concept of lifelong careers at the same employer slowly fades into history, fewer and fewer EMBA students are securing full corporate sponsorship for their mid-career skills boost. According to a survey in 2015 by the Executive MBA Council, which tracks trends in the course globally, 23.2 percent of EMBA students managed to secure reimbursement for all of their fees, while another 35.6 percent had obtained partial reimbursement — leaving 41.2 percent pushing on with no financial backing from their employer whatsoever.

The downward trend can be seen by comparing these figures with those of 2011, when 27.3 percent of students benefited from full financial sponsorship and 36.9 percent were paying their own way (the proportion receiving partial sponsorship was relatively constant over that period).

Current CUHK EMBA student William Luk told Financial Times in an interview that he is benefiting from what he describes as a “well developed succession plan”, in which his employer identified him as a staff member to be nurtured. Luk is a Hong Kong-based civil engineer working as an operations manager for Chun Wo Development Holdings, a construction and property group listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

After putting him through his paces with interviews and written exercises, Chun Wo agreed to pay for 70 percent of the course fee for his EMBA at CUHK Business School. Luk in turn agreed to stay with the company for at least two years after graduating.

“I have no intention to leave the company after the undertaking period, simply because of their effort and commitment to develop staff,” Luk adds… Read More (PDF)

Luk’s quote is included in the article, “Companies turns off the tap”, which was featured in Financial Times–both online and in print on 12 and 17 October, 2016 respectively. Please also click the image below to read the full article.

Source: Financial Times
Date Published: 12 and 17 October, 2016

Illustration: Nick Lowndes/Financial Times