PrintSend to friend

For Chilean executives, going to the U.S. to study can improve employment prospects but it can also be costly and often puts a strain on family and work life. To resolve this dilemma, many executives are turning to flexible dual-degree executive MBA programs that promise to help them stand out from the competition while earning a degree from a university in Chile and the U.S. at the same time.

Prospective MBA students can choose between several such programs in Chile that cost up to US$30,000 and take up to two years to complete. The programs vary in quality and focus but most are accredited by the U.S.-based Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) and/or the U.K.’s postgraduate business education authority, the Association of MBAs (AMBA).

Universities that offer dual-degree executive MBA programs include traditional universities like Universidad de Chile and Pontificia Universidad Católica as well as private ones like Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez and Universidad del Desarrollo.

The international prestige of many Chilean universities has also helped them get in with some of the bigger MBA programs in the United States and Europe.

Choosing a program often comes down to the reason for going back to school in the first place. Some executives want to advance in their careers by moving up the corporate ladder while others want to move into a different business area. But Indiana-born Shaun Sheffield, founder and CEO of Santiago-based The Austral Group, wanted to start a company.

The Austral Group, an educational services firm dedicated to organizing international executive MBA study visits in South America, started as a class project for a dual-degree program Sheffield graduated from in 2005.

His idea came about in an entrepreneurship class called “Venture Creation” as part of the Executive MBA for the Americas program offered jointly by the University of Chile and New Orleans-based Tulane University.

“The top handful of MBA programs in Chile are very strong, they can compete regionally and the top two or three can compete on a global level in terms of quality of the professors, the institution and their installations,” said Sheffield.

In a globalized world, when borders are increasing permeable and emerging markets such as Chile’s rely on doing business abroad, the advantages of these types of academic programs are numerous.

“There’s a new way of doing business which takes into account the paradigms of the developed world as well as the developing world, and those who understand both are better prepared to take advantage of them,” said Alejandro Ruelas, a professor and academic director at the Adolfo Ibáñez School of Management in Miami.

After opening its Miami campus in 2006, Santiago-based Adolfo Ibáñez became the first Latin American university to offer an accredited MBA program in the U.S. And, earlier this year, it sealed a deal with UCLA’s John Anderson School of Management for a dual-degree Global Executive MBA program for the Americas.

Standing out from the crowd

Chileans are often pigeonholed by what they studied at university and breaking out of that mold can be difficult, but going back to school offers a detour off the beaten path.

A dual-degree program gives the ubiquitous commercial or civil engineer a chance to stand above the crowd by exposing them to new ideas through interaction with new cultures.

“The degree makes the difference between two individuals that are equally qualified for the same job,” explains Leslie Cooper, partner and executive director of Santiago-based headhunter HK Human Capital.

The executive MBA program, as the name suggests, is designed specifically for professionals and executives with track records, as opposed to recent college graduates whose résumés are generally replete with educational experience and hobbies.

Even though the majority of students in these programs come from a business or engineering backgrounds, this is not a requirement. Lawyers, agronomists, journalists and others also participate to obtain a profound understanding of the business world.

“The mix is very powerful. These programs offer a chance to think outside the box,” said Cooper.

Cooper, who herself has an MA in Economics from North Texas State University, sees Chilean professionals often falling into the trap of studying a business degree at the undergraduate level, working in a related field and then returning to school with other like-minded classmates to do an MBA.

“The exposure to students and teachers from other countries in an international MBA program gives students the tools to see problems from a different angle, which leads to innovation,” she said.

The home advantage

While the specific focus taken by different universities with their MBA programs varies, such as Universidad del Desarrollo’s emphasis on entrepreneurship and the Universidad Católica’s aim to create top-level executives, some elements are standard.

Classes are typically offered either twice weekly in the evenings, or through a weekend program, which meets once every three weeks for classes on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

English is a requirement with students typically needing to pass the TOEFL exam to gain admission. Visiting professors give lessons in English, most textbooks are in English and students will typically spend at least a few weeks in a U.S. university setting. But some core classes such as macro or microeconomics are usually taught in Spanish.

There are some difficulties with the dual-degree program though. As most executive MBA students are between 30 and 40 years old, have a family and many years of professional experience under their belt, it becomes increasingly difficult for them to pick up and leave for a year to study abroad.

“Leaving Chile for a year, for someone who is working as a professional and has a family is very costly,” said Francisco Santibáñez, the director of the Universidad del Desarollo’s MBA program.

That’s why many universities that offer dual-degree programs also have certificate programs with U.S. universities which only require stays varying from a couple of weeks to a couple of months.

The Universidad del Desarrollo, which has a dual-degree program with Massachusetts-based Babson College, also offers exchange programs with nearly 50 international higher education institutions.

For example, through its Doing Business in Latin American program the university brings students from Babson to offer consulting services to local businesses. Chilean students then travel to Babson for a week to finalize the consulting work.
 
In the case of The Austral Group’s Sheffield, the Universidad de Chile flew down professors from Tulane University to Santiago, allowing him and his classmates to obtain a dual-degree while spending minimal time away from work and family.

“It was a unique program as the entire program is done here in Chile, which was really convenient from a professional perspective,” said Sheffield.

Back to school

Meanwhile, the global financial crisis which hit the local job market hard last year has been good news for Chile’s MBA programs. Executives who found themselves out of a job suddenly had the time to back to school.

“They thought: ‘I’m not going to find a good job now considering how the market is, so I’ll spend some money and do an MBA program.’ In other words the crisis was positive for us,” said Joanna Herzfeld, head of marketing and sales at the Universidad Católica’s MBA program.

Other universities have also seen a jump in enrollment. The Universidad del Desar ollo’s weekend executive MBA program, which started in the southern city of Concepción, went so well that it now also offers the program in Santiago as well as the tourism-driven town of Puerto Varas and the northern mining town of Antofagasta.

The Universidad del Desarrollo had 125 MBA students in 2008, which rose to 145 last year and Santibáñez expects around 180 this year.

The MBA programs are apparently a good business for universities, but students stand to benefit too. Herzfeld estimates that studying a dual-degree program in Chile winds up being about 30% cheaper than doing an MBA in the U.S.

Still, the return on investment will ultimately depend on how students apply what they have learned and how they take advantage of the contacts made.

While there’s no strict rule for knowing when a student will see a return after finishing an MBA program, an executive can typically expect to see a noticeable difference in salary in one to two years.

“The salary curve for executives with these types of degrees changes dramatically,” said Cooper adding that a year after graduation executives can expect to earn around 25% more.

Sheffield, who spent close to US$30,000 on his program, has this to say:  “It took blood, sweat and tears… but the investment has more than paid for itself.”

Anthony Esposito is a reporter at Dow Jones Newswires in Santiago.