Why does THE GLOCAL MBA exist?

Full-time MBA

The full-time MBA is an intensive 3-month program designed for ambitious, adventurous young professionals who want both a cutting-edge business education and a transformational life experience to level up.

The program is taught on-site in 3 unique Southeast Asian countries: Indonesia (Bali), Vietnam (the Sapa Valley) and Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur). You’ll spend 1 month in each location while co-living with up to 30 smart and open-minded students from around the world. Together, you’ll pursue a condensed graduate business curriculum designed to give you the most relevant knowledge and skills, broken into 2 blocks: Hard Business Skills (finance, economics, organizational behaviour…) and Soft Life Skills (leadership, communication, creativity, self-awareness…), both designed to expand your abilities and your mind.

We use a blended learning model that combines online masterclasses presented on video by world-class leaders (+ live Q&A sessions with them) and educational materials (case studies, summaries, templates, pdfs, problem-solving exercises, quizzes, short essays…) for the Hard Business Skills Block with face-to-face classes and workshops for the Soft Life Skills Block.

You’ll have 6 one-to-one coaching sessions, wellness activities, volunteering work with local communities, field trips to local companies and epic experiences where you will face your fears and overcome your boundaries.

Both online in the e-learning platform and on-site, you’ll have a program director to guide you through your lessons, answer your questions and push you intellectually. You’ll also benefit from the constant feedback, support and ideas of your cohort. This individualized attention from experts, shared in a small group of likeminded but diverse people, while immersed in exotic new cultures will prepare you to become a leader of consequence and will change your life and your career exponentially!

THE GLOCAL MBA is short enough that you may be able to convince your employer for a leave of absence, but long enough to upskill every aspect of your professional and personal life while undergoing a total mindset shift and building lifelong friendships.

Following graduation from THE GLOCAL MBA, you’ll be ready to be a leader and an innovator, pushing boundaries globally in a wide range of roles and fields, in multinationals, startups or on your own. Once the program is over you will have the opportunity to continue with your coaching sessions through our extension course.

Part-time MBA

THE GLOCAL MBA part-time program offers the best of the full-time MBA but at a flexible pace so you can keep your job. If you are ready to upskill your career, learn the fundamentals of business, build a worldwide network and have a transformational life experience including a 2-week immersion in Southeast Asia, this part-time program is for you.

Our condensed curriculum gives you the most relevant fundamentals of an MBA across 2 blocks: Hard Business Skills (finance, economics, organizational behaviour…) and Soft Life Skills (leadership, communication, creativity, self-awareness…), both designed to expand your abilities and your mind.

During the first 2 weeks of the program you will co-live with a small group of students (your cohort) in Indonesia (Bali) where you’ll get an immersive cultural experience while also starting your Soft Life Skills Block with in-person classes, workshops and 2 out of your 6 one-to-one coaching sessions. Your program then continues online for 5 months, via virtual classes with world-class leaders from business, big tech, entrepreneurship, VC, and more, text-based study resources, 4 online coaching sessions and practical projects. Your GLOCAL home online is the e-learning platform where you can share your projects, engage with your peers, give and get feedback.

In Bali and on the e-learning platform, you’ll work individually and in teams, online and in the field, building lifelong friendships while you build confidence in yourself and gain the tools to lead, drive change and thrive in any professional path you take.

Both online and on-site, you’ll have a program director who will guide you through your lessons, answer questions and push you intellectually. You’ll also benefit from the constant feedback, support and ideas of your cohort—your smart and open-minded peers in the part-time MBA. This individualized attention, shared in a small group of likeminded but diverse people, will help you change your life and your career exponentially.

Following graduation from THE GLOCAL MBA, you’ll have the tools to become a leader and an innovator, to push boundaries globally in a diverse range of roles and fields, in a corporation, a startup or on your own. You will also be able to continue with your coaching sessions once the program is over through our extension course.

Whether you are a leader, project manager, entrepreneur, designer, artist, innovator or digital nomad, whether you work inside a global firm or on your own, regardless of industry, setting or job function, THE GLOCAL MBA is for you if:

• You want the benefits of an international MBA without wasting money (+€125,000 for tuition and costs of an average MBA), wasting time (1 to 2 years is average length), and wasting energy in the long application process (preparing for the GMAT, GRE or TOEFL).
• You’re ready to upgrade your career with the most up-to-date hard business skills as well as the most innovative soft skills training, taught by influential business leaders and coaches.
• You want time to slow down and explore new cultures in Southeast Asia while rethinking your future, leveling up, overcoming your fears, and gaining the confidence and self-awareness to become a mindful leader.
• You want to meet ambitious, open-minded people from around the world and make lifelong friendships.

THE GLOCAL MBA offers all of this and more. Through practical classes, workshops, coaching and epic experiences, all shared together with an impressive cohort of brilliant international students you will learn, at record speed, to lead, innovate and thrive in today’s evolving and challenging global economy.

The key differences that distinguish THE GLOCAL MBA include:

• Small cohorts of up to 30 diverse students to maximize the learning experience.
• The experience of co-living and co-learning in Southeast Asia in order to encourage disconnection, adaptability, critical thinking, openness and collaboration.
• World-class teachers, coaches and speakers who have real-world experience in big tech, entrepreneurship, VC, wellness and more.
• A curriculum that is balanced between hard business skills and soft life skills.
• Short and intensive programming which allows us to constantly update our curriculum so that our students are fully prepared to thrive in VUCA environments.
• Blended learning that combines online lectures, educational materials and opportunities for community-building with on-site classes, workshops and hands-on experiences alongside your cohort and program directors.
• No exams to get in, no exams to get out, our program is driven by merit, personal growth and peer-evaluations.
• 6 one-to-one coaching sessions that guide students in their personal and professional ambitions and the opportunity to continue with the sessions once the program is over through our extension course.
• Field trips to local companies.
• Volunteering work with local communities.
• Wellness activities.
• Epic experiences where students face their fears and overcome their boundaries.

We use a blended learning model that combines online masterclasses presented on video by world-class leaders (+ live Q&A sessions with them) and educational materials (case studies, readings, summaries, templates, pdfs, problem-solving exercises, quizzes, short essays…) for the Hard Business Skills Block with face-to-face classes and workshops for the Soft Life Skills Block.

The best learning happens when you are pushed out of your comfort zone and that is exactly what will happen every day in THE GLOCAL MBA. Both online and on-site, you will be encouraged to be hands-on and get involved by your program director who will guide you through your lessons, answer questions and push you intellectually. On-site, you’ll get fully engaged and active in epic experiences, group excursions and wellness activities.

Our focus on immersive, interactive, practical learning means that you will not have to pass any exams to graduate. We don’t believe in evaluating students with standardized exams based on memorization, which is an obsolete learning methodology not suited to today’s dynamic, changing reality. Rather than studying to pass an exam, you’ll focus on practical projects and learn from your program directors and coaches and from the constant feedback, support and ideas of your cohort—your smart, open-minded, diverse peers. Their unique experiences and cultures will enhance your learning and challenge the way you see the world. The two-way exchange of ideas will open your mind while giving you confidence to share your own viewpoints. Through practical team projects, you will put your new lessons into practice and build even closer bonds with each other. The result is that you’ll really absorb and retain your new knowledge for life (not merely memorize it in order to pass an exam).

Our academics are grounded in case studies, which let you experience the challenges and choices faced by business leaders in real-world situations. Driven by discussion and debate, the case-based methodology is rigorous. It demands critical thinking, active participation and the willingness to accept new perspectives. There is no right nor wrong answer as you learn to solve complex problems and make hard decisions. First introduced by Harvard Business School—and still the main methodology in the Harvard MBA—the case method is the best way to prepare you to become an effective, flexible, global leader.

If you do our full-time MBA, you will also have the chance to learn by doing with local startups and companies. Your local immersion goes even further in Vietnam where you will live with a family from the Hmong tribe in the Sapa Valley. Their lives are based on rice cultivation and hemp cloth production and for 5 days, so will yours. This unique social aspect of THE GLOCAL MBA will help you abandon your own way of life and see things in a totally new light.

Accreditation requires a lot of regulation, bureaucracy and strictly defined study plans, all of which means limited flexibility—this is directly against the philosophy of THE GLOCAL MBA. Being un-accredited gives us the freedom to give you the most relevant, tailored and condensed business program possible. Every moment of the MBA is designed to give you exactly what you need to become a future leader, innovator or disruptor within a multinational company or in your own startup. We focus on giving you real, tangible growth, in both your skillset and your mindset—not making you memorize data, check boxes and jump through hoops. Instead of a very expensive diploma proving you can follow standardized rules, you’ll get a private certificate and the confidence to let you define the rules.