We often get queries from working executives on the differences between Executive Education and an MBA, and what it can do for one’s career. Sometimes the expectations are misplaced. We decided to share our perspectives to help participants make an informed decision.
An Executive Education Certificate and an MBA can be great for career growth, but they serve very different purposes. Here’s a clear breakdown to help you decide based on your career stage, goals, and return on investment (ROI).
When an Executive Education Certificate makes more sense
Executive Education is often categorized into two buckets – short-term (3-5 days / 15-25 sessions) and long-term (>= 20 days). A long-term Executive Education (Exec Ed) program is usually accompanied by an Exec Ed alumni status of the B-School, which can be perceived as being valuable to the participant. The most popular long-term programs are in General Management that cover various subjects of a typical MBA. A short-term Exec Ed program has a different purpose – the objective is to deepen one’s knowledge and skills on a specific topic. It is more of a deep dive into a focused area. The long-term Exec Ed programs would cost anywhere between 5-12 lakhs for a 20-40 day program from a premier B-School in India. The pedagogy can be a combination of Live-Online and In-Person. Participants pay for travel and stay when they attend sessions.
There is no requirement to pass exams or attend interviews to enroll into Executive Education programs.
Best suited for:
Why choose it:
Think of it as: sharpening your expertise and signalling continuous learning.
Typical outcomes:
Not ideal if: you’re trying to do a complete career switch (e.g., IT → Finance or Marketing).
When an MBA (Full-time or Executive MBA) makes more sense
An MBA or an Executive MBA program admission is based on an entrance exam and interviews. It could be GMAT, CAT, GRE, etc. The duration could be 1 year or 2 years. It can be full-time or part-time. Premier institutes offer placement support for MBA grads. A full-time MBA from a premier insititute in India is an expensive proposition – an MBA from a premier IIM in India would cost Rs. 26-28 lakhs for a two-year program, and a 1-year Executive MBA would cost around Rs. 35 lakhs. A part-time MBA for working professionals (weekend classes spread across 2-years) from IIMB would cost around Rs. 22 lakhs without placement support. The 1-year MBA equivalent program would cost around Rs. 50 lakhs!
Best suited for:
Why choose it:
Think of it as: rebooting your career with a new identity and network.
Typical outcomes:
Cons:
Here is a Decision Filter that can help –
|
If your goal is… |
Best fit |
|
Move up in your current company / role |
Executive Education |
|
Change industries or functions |
MBA |
|
Build a strong credential + alumni network |
MBA |
|
Learn something fast without a long commitment |
Executive Education |
|
You have 10+ years of experience and are already in leadership |
Executive Education / Executive MBA (not a freshers’ MBA) |
Quick rule of thumb
If you’re early in your career and want a change go for an MBA.
If you’re mid or senior level and want to accelerate → Executive Education.
Here is our recommendation –
Rajbir Singh, PhD
Rajbir Singh is a founder and Consulting Partner at Value Centria, a boutique business consulting firm that leverages customer centricity and digital to drive growth and innovation. Additionally, he is the co-founder and CEO of the i4 Mentors Foundation, a startup accelerator. As a not-for-profit, i4 Mentors Foundation is working for “Build for India”, and Healthcare is one of their focus sectors.
Before this, Rajbir led Global Business and IT Consulting businesses at IBM, Oracle, HCL Technologies and Tata Unisys for 25+ years. He has led large, multi-cultural teams spread across the globe and has consulted with Fortune 500 clients across industries, including BFSI, Media, Telecom, Utilities, CPG and Manufacturing. His areas of expertise include Customer Strategy, Innovation Strategy, Business Strategy and Change Management. He has received recognition from Forrester, Pega, SAP and HCL Tech for developing innovative products.
Rajbir has been a visiting faculty at IIIT Delhi, IIT Delhi, NSUT and BIMTech. He is also on the board of a few startup incubators.
Rajbir is an Electronics Engineer from IIT Delhi, an MBA from IIM Bangalore and a PhD from IIT Delhi.
Websites: https://www.valuecentria.in/; https://www.i4mentors.com/
Sudarsan Chakravarthy
Founder, Chief Mentor & Success Coach – myDharma Global
A Spiritual leader, leadership coach, motivational speaker, accomplished global business leader, and an author with keen interests in ancient wisdom, spirituality, science, philosophy, and the arts.
An MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM-B, Class of 93), India’s premier B-School, with a proven track record in building business, driving revenue & profitability growth and maximizing stakeholder delight.
Versatile and highly accomplished Management Professional with 25+ years of experience in the IT industry spanning across India, ME, Europe and North America.
Has rich experience across a wide range of areas – Digital Transformation, Line of Business Management, Business Operations, Sales, Marketing, IT Strategy, Operations, Finance, Product Management, and Service Delivery Management.
Worked with GBM (IBM GMSR) in Dubai for 20+years and championed several key strategies, including Business transformation, SAP implementation, Market Coverage, Growth Initiatives, Merger, Organizational restructuring, Low-cost services delivery, Market Research, IT Strategy, Business Partner / Channel Management, Operational Excellence, Sales Management, CRM, etc.
A motivational speaker with rich experience in running inspiring empowerment workshops; Has been inspiring and enthralling audiences of all age groups – individuals, groups, youth, families, corporate leaders – across several parts of the world with his captivating lectures; Meticulously gleans profound insights from the treasury of ancient wisdom and presents them in a way that illuminates the contemporary mind and resonates with today’s needs, interests, and challenges.
His life’s mission is to instill nobility and greatness across various strata of society.
Skillfully harmonizes the seemingly conflicting material and spiritual worlds and empowers individuals with a revitalising transformation and helps them to strengthen faith in their limitless potential; Is dedicated to unlocking the God given talents and highest abilities in people and empowering them to celebrate life through their unique contributions to the making of a new and beautiful world.
Subha Parthasarathy has been working with children, parents, and adults since 2006 and is the founder of Magichive. She is a Counselling Psychologist with over 20,000 counselling and training hours spent on 1-on-1 sessions with adults/children and group training sessions. Subha is an experienced trainer and facilitator who delivers workshops and programs that focus on enriching relationships with self and others. Her workshops “Chetana” (parenting workshop since 2009) and “Compassionate Communication based on NVC (since 2016)” are centred around increasing self-awareness and equipping participants with tools and insights that can help in leading an enriching life.
Person Centric Therapy, Mindfulness, and Nonviolent Communication form the cornerstones of her work. She is a Vipassana meditator and has certifications on various methods of interventions based on NLP, CBT, TA, NVC, Gestalt, Movement therapy, Reiki, Deep Listening, etc. She has delivered sessions in IIM Bangalore, IIM Kashipur, Infosys, Infosys BPO, Cap Gemini, Northern Trust, HSBC, etc.
Case Study: Case study on Magichive through Ivey Publishing, Ivey Business School, Canada (Click here for details) published in Oct 2024
Podcasts: Subha has hosted more than 20 free podcasts centred around mindfulness hosted on Spotify ( Click here for details)
Book: A book of 19 poems titled “Verses for Better – Parenting Lessons from Parenting Failures“, a collaborative effort between Magichive and Wunderman Thompson, was published in 2018. The book was nominated for two categories in the prestigious National Level Kyoorious Creative Awards 2019.